REVIEW: Big Dog, Currie Productions, EdFringe 2026 ★★

Big Dog promises a darkly comedic dissection of the ethics of true crime influencers and the seedy underbelly of the influencer industry. Despite some flashes of interest, it fails to dig beneath the obvious, regurgitating true crime talking points that have been done to death.

The play follows Eve, a Cambridge grad hired as a scriptwriter for influencer Cassie Does Crime. Cassie’s office is a girlypop fever-dream – fluffy pink chairs, labubus, and a lamb-themed star chart (for some reason). She doesn’t fit in with unstable manager Yasmin, or Gen Z tiktok diva Scarlett, but begins to assimilate as she studies the office culture.

Cassie herself haunts the narrative, functioning as an omniscient presence with ultimate power over Eve and Scarlett’s work. As public outcry against the poor taste of Cassie’s content rises to fever pitch, Scarlett and Eve’s relationship begins to fracture under the weight of Scarlett’s insecurity and Eve’s selfishness. This tension culminates in the final section of the play, featuring a new character who forces the girls to confront their complicity in Cassie’s content. 

Izzy Radford’s script is shallow until this final section, and the jokes rarely garner more than a cursory snort from the audience. The ground that she is attempting to cover is well-trodden, and the script doesn’t venture beyond the obvious ethical concerns of true crime: the pain caused to the victims’ loved ones, and the negative impact of graphic violence on younger viewers. There is so much more to delve into with this concept, so the lack of complexity is disappointing. 

Scenes in the first half of Big Dog which explored Scarlett and Eve’s growing friendship (which was shattered by their manufactured tension) seemingly came out of nowhere. Some of the key moments took place offstage and thus left to the audience’s imagination. Scarlett’s attempt to negotiate a raise, for example, had been built up for the play’s duration and could have been a key onstage moment for her character development.

The finale was much stronger – without spoiling too much, a new character is introduced in the final act, and there is a dramatic shift in tone. Despite Radford’s roots in comedy writing, this more serious section was by far the highlight of the piece, bolstered by an immaculately unnerving performance by Eleanor Cross.

The tension was palpable, and I was genuinely nervous about what might happen, with more than a few instances of fear –  although by far the biggest jumpscare was the terrible fake Scottish accent in some of the voiceovers.

Aside from Cross, the performances were passable – Radford’s Scarlett had a few really good laughs but was often overblown, Tumba Katanda’s Eve had unclear objectives and was hard to connect with, and Lauryn Jenkins’ Yasmin was impossible to root for.

Some of the problem here lies with the script, however, and each actor has snapshots of brightness. With some retooling and dramaturgical support to beef up the bones that are there, this show could become something special.

Zeitgeisty, sobering, and enjoyable, Big Dog is firmly Gen Z in its approach, asking where do morals fit in the digital age?

Drink recommendation: A vodka cran – suitably girlypop with a bitter aftertaste.

You can catch Big Dog at Dram at Gilded Balloon Patter House from 5-31 August (not 13, 24) at 18:20 (60 mins). Tickets are available through the EdFringe Online Box Office.