Bigfoot Ripped My Dog In Half I Saw It @ Summerhall

Three-time Fringe First winners Xhloe Rice and Natasha Roland are back with a tale of conspiracy, belief and another Americana archetype to unpick. In several ways, Bigfoot Ripped My Dog In Half I Saw It is a classic from the absurdist duo – there are the tight, acrobatic transitions; the vignettes that gradually and compellingly cohere; the finish-each-others'-sentences charm of the long-time best friends.

This time, the pair take on a small, recently-flooded Appalachian town as teenagers – and a host of other caricatures – in an offering that only adds to the buzz. Fabricating a series of Bigfoot sightings, the girls are surprised when their lie catches on, only to find themselves at the centre of a paranoia spiraling further and futher out of control. When a neighbour’s dog is found torn apart, the joke takes a darker turn, as the town scrambles for an explanation.

The town where a flood “could never happen” echoes the 2024 narratives around Hurricane Helene, which caused catastrophic flooding in the southern Appalachian mountains. Xhloe and Natasha masterfully explicate systems of belief in crisis; under-resourced and overlooked communities become desperate for something binding and true. 

The duo’s physicality is as precise as ever, their bodies constantly transforming the sparse stage into a series of locations and chaotic circumstances. At the centre is the titular Bigfoot: a nine-foot-tall, gloriously absurd puppet that somehow manages to be both ridiculous and eerie when augmented by Angelo Sagnelli’s lighting design. 

Underneath the silliness is a sharper portrait of a community vulnerable to misinformation, isolation and fear. It’s a fitting new chapter for a duo who know exactly how to make us laugh – then wonder what, exactly, we’ve been laughing at.

---

Bigfoot Ripped My Dog In Half I Saw It, Summerhall (Main Hall), until 30 Aug (not 18, 25), 9.10pm, sold out; Soho Theatre, London, 7-26 Sep