Xhloe and Natasha Return to Edinburgh Fringe With a Triple Bill of Fringe First-Winning Shows 

Xhloe and Natasha have announced their return to Edinburgh Fringe with all three of their consecutive Scotsman Fringe First-winning shows. The acclaimed New York-based duo, whose signature style blends clowning, tightly choreographed physicality, sharp script and fast pace, have become firm favourites of the biggest arts festival in the world, after first appearing in 2022. Exploring popular American archetypes including the Wild West cowboy, the 50's post-war suburban housewife and the boy scout, Xhloe and Natasha interrogate themes of identity, gender and queerness within the context of the socio-political landscape of the United States. And Then the Rodeo Burned Down, What If They Ate The Baby? and A Letter To Lyndon B. Johnson Or God: Whoever Reads This First will alternate performances, with two shows taking place each day at theSpaceUK.

And Then the Rodeo Burned Down is a meta-theatrical subversion of the traditional Western following Dale, a rodeo clown aspiring to be a cowboy, and Dilly Dally, Dale's mischievous shadow. Exploring masculinity, power, and the American Dream in the context of cowboy culture, the pair playfully switch between characters, shift power dynamics, and turn the story around at breakneck speed, challenging the audience to keep up. Dale and Dilly bicker, antagonise and flirt through synchronised physical theatre, dance and clowning, scored by a soundtrack from Dolly Parton, Johnny Cash, and Elvis. The performance is flipped when the duo are forced out of character to reflect on the financial pressures put on performers in the industry. They question the events of the narrative, whether they will be able to afford to find the end, and most importantly, who burnt the rodeo down?

What If They Ate The Baby? is an absurd and dystopian take on the 1950's American housewife, where audiences are put into the position of surveillant. Created largely in response to the changing laws surrounding reproductive rights in America, the show explores the same menial conversations between neighbours in the context of surveillance, cannibalism, and queerness, all during an idealised period in American history that was marked by paranoia. Playing two post-war suburban housewives, Xhloe and Natasha use double entendre, green spaghetti and a soundtrack complete with Vaudeville to Rap to interrogate gender expectations and the relationship between surveillance and bodily autonomy.  

A Letter To Lyndon B. Johnson Or God: Whoever Reads This First is a farcical two-hander that blurs the lines of 1960s American Boy Scouts and drafted US Soldiers in Vietnam. Drawing on their own upbringings in military families and being taught that the USA was the greatest country in the world, Xhloe and Natasha play two scouts who directly address the audience, telling stories, playing soldiers and declaring their admiration for current president Lyndon B. Johnson. Exploring children's innocence and their relationship with war as well as the androgyny of gender traits that society allows boys to have, the performance is set to a Beatles' soundtrack, complete with live harmonica and spit-shakes. 

Co-writers and performers Xhloe and Natasha said, "All three of these pieces were born at Edinburgh Fringe, and it's so exciting to us to be able to share them together, we've never performed all three in the same run. We feel like it's not only a celebration of their success in recent years, but a thank you to all the audiences that have expressed their love for our work and made their success possible. Most of all, we hope the triple bill can serve as a testament to what Fringe is about, and how this festival can change lives, as it certainly has changed ours since 2022."

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