The darlings of Fringe have returned with a brand new show! After a rotating schedule of three shows last year, Xhloe and Natasha are performing a sold-out run of “Bigfoot Ripped My Dog In A Half I Saw It” at Summerhall with the possibility of standby tickets exactly one hour before the show.
There is a lot of pressure on a new show from the first team in history to ever win three Fringe First Awards in a row, and after being so mesmerised by them last year, I was worried I might put them on too high a pedestal. But I popped my Tony cap on, I sat in the front row with my wee notebook and mechanical pencil, and just decided to take it all in for what I was being shown and not who was showing it. After watching, one short sentence comes to mind.
They did it again!
The play delves into rural life in America and the way news travels. I felt quite a connection with the piece having grown up in a rural village myself. Everyone seems to know everyone’s business, and everyone seems to find it their duty to add a little extra onto the story.
The financial stress of the town is sprinkled all over when a natural disaster devastates their natural resources, forcing them to buy bottled water when their well water was poisoned by a flood. We hear about it in conversations around spoiling a dog with bottled water, being shortchanged for groceries, and not being able to have a late night Dairy Queen because of the running costs.
This is supposed to be the land of the free and of opportunity, but like many other towns in America, it sure doesn’t feel like it.
A late night Dairy Queen may seem like a frivolous thing, but to have struggle after struggle with nothing really getting better, it does something to the mind, and for rural folk who always seem to get the worst of it, sometimes not being able to enjoy the little things is felt harder than elsewhere.
The government department associated with relief for the town are, of course, nowhere to be seen, other than a smiling representative that feels like more of an AI chat than a human. So, when there is talk of a Bigfoot sighting and, all of a sudden, property is getting damaged all over town, it’s all people can talk about.
People are excited to talk about anything other than the economic crisis and lack of drinking water, and the local government to have people direct their attention somewhere else, and the relief team are only too delighted to have everyone in fear so that they can use it against them when it suits.
It’s a poignant allegory as to how we act in society today. It’s no longer enough to trust that a journalist is following a code of integrity and truth, all it takes is for one person to shout the catchphrase “Fake news” and it opens up the floodgates to everyone being a reporter. But, even scarier, a reporter with no sources, no integrity, and no ethics.
"Bigfoot Ripped My Dog In A Half I Saw It" captures all of this with a script that is as rich as it is deep. You’ll marvel at the choreography, the subtle face changes, and the freaking Bigfoot marching towards you!
Xhloe and Natasha are quite possibly the cleverest playwrights of our generation. Their themes reflect a want for change, but they portray it with such truth and sincerity that it is truly a breath of fresh air.
I wish I could tell you to rush out and buy your tickets, but the dynamic duo sold out their entire run before Fringe even started! However, what I can advise is that if you arrive at the box office at Summerhall exactly one hour before start time, they may, and I stress MAY, have a couple of standby tickets available at face value. Or, if you happen to live near or are visiting London in September, they will be playing at Soho Theatre.
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