EDINBURGH 2026 Review: BIGFOOT RIPPED MY DOG IN HALF I SAW IT, Summerhall
Runs until 30 August.
These are the coolest kids on the programme, with a sold-out run at Summerhall and a London transfer on their hands. Bigfoot... duo Xhloe and Natasha deserve every second of the hype they’re getting. Their idiosyncratic brand of absurdist physical theatre is what the Fringe should be. Experimental. Daring. Layered. Exhilarating in its stagecraft. Unafraid to take risks. Weird. Their mise en scène is young, slick, intuitive in the fragmented nature of its writing, and precise in its physical language. They’re transfixing.
Two teenagers stage a handful of Bigfoot sightings in their isolated Appalachian town. Ravaged by a destructive flood, the community shows a united front for the first time since, believing they’re being targeted by a series of strange phenomena nobody can explain. Hearsay balloons into something bigger than they can handle, and the two girls are forced to act. Their lies grow out of control, and now a dog has turned up dead. The piece is pure, perfectly coordinated chaos.
Acrobatics, clownery, puppetry, and sheer theatrical invention come together to create a frenetic scene-building exercise. As the town’s collective frenzy turns into alarming paranoia, the music explodes and the sequences shorten, becoming breathless snapshots of suspicion and mistrust. The fusion of grungy camo and mime makeup is only the beginning of the delicious cognitive dissonance that imbues Xhloe and Natasha’s work.
Appalachian folklore and its strict rules combine with the most random soundtrack (Aqua’s “Barbie Girl”, the Spice Girls, the Macarena, and more) to destabilise the picture further. We’re pushed to ask, is there a point where the distinction between truth and conspiracy stops being relevant to the conversation? Does the unity of a community matter more than the facts? When do we decide that what we feel is more important than what we know to be true? Head to Summerhall and beg for a return ticket.
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