New York duo Xhloe and Natasha are the toast of the Fringe and with good reason.If you’ve seen them before, you know the score – tightly choreographed fast-paced sequences, rapid-fire exchanges of dialogue and bags of charismatic appeal. Their latest production is less abstract than their previous interrogations of American icons, but more demanding on them as performers. Bigfoot Ripped My Dog In Half I Saw It is their biggest show to date – in terms of size of venue (it’s in the main hall at Summerhall), tickets sold and scale – but even with a shaggy Bigfoot puppet looming over them, all they really need to conjure a cast of Appalachian townsfolks are their own bodies and voices.
In smalltown America sometime in the late 1990s, two teenage girls claim to have seen Bigfoot on the Valley Road. The residents take this information and run with it, gossiping, weaponizing, monetizing with a mix of fear, greed and excitement. The mayor seems especially keen on using the “sighting” as a means of controlling the population. A town hall meeting is a masterclass in quick-fire physical theatre as they build a portrait of a community consumed by self-interest and hysteria, ramped up with blaring snippets of 90s bangers from Britney to the Beastie Boys.
Over at Zoo Southside, Sh!t Theatre have also gone big this year with their “two-person mega musical” Evita Too, a tribute to the life of Isabel Peron, the now largely forgotten first female president of any country in the world, thrust into the role following the death of husband Juan in 1974 and forever in the shadow of her vastly more popular predecessor Eva. Put it this way: Argentina did not cry for her. The story of her rise and fall is barely credible but that’s all part of the attraction for Louise Mothersole and Becca Biscuit, a duo who are always game for a gonzo challenge.
In addition to some terrific harmony singing, they break for diversions, clarifications and one of their trademark field trips – this one to Spain on the trail of their reclusive protagonist. A large puppet of Evita (with the scary face of Andrew Lloyd Webber) looms over proceedings as they ask, could Isabel’s tenure in the spotlight, indeed her whole life have worked out differently if she’d been a man? Spoiler alert: yes.
Over at the Traverse, The Singer is an altogether more conventional production but one with its own USP. The Singer of the title is Joe, a deaf young man who feels music through a sensory pack on his back and performs by signing the lyrics. He falls in with hearing singer/songwriter Andy, who could have been a contender, and together they graft and craft a comeback. Featuring super catchy songs by KT Tunstall and Cora Bissett’s usual imaginative direction, this is a beautifully appointed production which integrates subtitles and BSL into the performance with flair, style and poignancy, not least when Joe invites the audience to sing/sign with him as a taste of deaf choir.
Bigfoot Ripped My Dog In Half I Saw It, Main Hall at Summerhall, various times, until August 30
https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/bigfoot-ripped-my-dog-in-half-i-saw-it
Evita Too, 18.25, Main House at Zoo Southside, until August 30
https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/evita-too
The Singer, various times, The Traverse, until August 30
