(4 / 5)

Sometimes it’s hard to authentically say that you have seen something that is unlike anything else. But with Bigfoot Ripped My Dog In Half I Saw It, this was an easy thing to say, if the long title often trips you up first!

Set in a small Appalachian town, two teenagers set light to the rumour mill and feed it further to cover up their own mistakes, allowing the town to believe they are being terrorised by the mysterious Bigfoot. However, when a local’s dog turns up ripped in half, they are forced to question how far their cover has gone and what is the real truth to this tale?

This production is covered by only two performers, who effectively change into a multitude of different characters, with changes to their voices, accents and physicality. We soon begin to recognise our “regulars” by their trademarked stance, movement or vocalisation and this in itself is a feat to behold. They move across the stage to create these “scenes” and sometimes at fast pace and you soon forget there’s only two of them as a full town unfolds before you.

With the use of remixed well known songs, lights, strobe and other technical techniques, they use their clown and acrobatic skills to further create these breaks in the story – to create the image of “Bigfoot” with these almost grotesque broken pieces of fur, climbing upon one another to give a hint of a silhouette to the fictional beast and it gives this uplift in theatricality and a cross between the “truth” and fiction. Often this blurs the lines between what the townsfolk believe to be happening and the reality of these two teenagers enhancing their lie to make it believable and the cross between the two is cleverly created with these techniques.

It also has a healthy dose of comedy meeting seriousness and a crescendo to the story. We are lulled into this banter between the two; the almost 2 dimension characters they create until the story becomes more serious, and develops genuine gasps from the audience, leaving us really questioning what is the real story and what is created for a different agenda.

Bigfoot Ripped My Dog In Half I Saw It is, as I said at the beginning, unlike anything else. A really unique piece of theatre, it is smart, one of a kind and extremely clever in not only its narrative but its creation and delivery.