Writer: Izzy Radford<\/p>\n
Director: Zo\u00eb Templeman-Young<\/p>\n
Unleashed at Riverside Studios\u2019 yearly short-form festival Bitesize is Big Dog from Izzy Radford (the TikTok comic whose Seating Plan was an Edinburgh smash last year). It takes aim at true crime podcasting and influencer culture via the workplace tribulations of Cambridge graduate ghostwriter Eve, recently hired at Cassie Does Crime and navigating a slew of moral hazards as she sensationalises suffering.<\/p>\n
In common with all newbies, Eve is demeaned, belittled and faux-friended by her new colleagues. Exacting, paranoid manager Yasmin \u2013 the only one with direct access to podcast progenitor and anchor Cassie (the \u2018Big Dog\u2019 of the title \u2013 \u00a0issues the corrections of Eve\u2019s work in humiliating, door-stopping wads: \u201cYou write like you\u2019ve swallowed a dictionary: stop trying to impress\u2026 more girly pop vibes please!\u201d<\/p>\n
Expensively dressed and tressed Scarlett emphasises that she\u2019s up for promotion after two years\u2019 slog in her role, but condescends to chat with Eve, succeeding only in revealing a breathtaking lack of general knowledge, overall dimwittedness, and capacity for criticism. \u201cEve, is that short for anything?\u201d; \u201cOhh, you\u2019re a Scorpio, they do a lot of scheming in their heads.\u201d<\/p>\n
As Yasmin eases and initiates Eve into the role, there\u2019s much acutely observed humour around workplace motivation, one-upping and the micro-aggressions of all-female office life. There\u2019s backhanded clapping as Eve gains positive feedback from Cassie, competitive clothing (especially on International Women\u2019s Day, when the workforce is encouraged to dress as female murder victims) and a hilarious points-based incentive system based around lambs: cute, cuddly and obviously intended for slaughter. Revelations occur at well-timed intervals: it turns out that Eve\u2019s predecessor Maia used Cassie\u2019s proximity to bolster her own following, so had to be ousted. And Scarlett\u2019s tangential response to Eve\u2019s mention of The Godfather suggests a dark secret.<\/p>\n
The stress of the fishbowl-like working environment, constantly monitored by bosses, sponsors and listeners alike, is well-evoked. Eve, Scarlett and Yasmin scroll obsessively through the \u2013 mostly negative \u2013 comments on their phones, and there\u2019s amusing mention of the show\u2019s ad content: \u201cShe kept the body in a trunk\u2026 but you can keep your storage in the cloud.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite Scarlett\u2019s aspirations, and Eve\u2019s egging on \u2013 \u201cYes, you\u2019re the business bitch!\u201d \u2013 \u00a0it becomes clear that the hierarchy is set in stone. Everyone\u2019s locked in and going nowhere; Cassie\u2019s Big Dog supremacy and privacy must be preserved. A constantly-looming presence in the play, via one-sided, Charlie\u2019s Angels-style phone calls with Yasmin, Cassie never actually appears, raising questions around AI falsity and criminal liability: who\u2019s to blame if the podcast strays into illegality and the boss mightn\u2019t actually exist? This becomes relevant later in the piece as an aggrieved, unwilling participant in the podcast begins to kick up a fuss.<\/p>\n
Big Dog is brilliantly structured and very satisfyingly wrapped up, with a startling turn of events and far from predictable mega-denouement that sees all the characters\u2019 motivations laid bare.<\/p>\n
The real joy is in the characters and finely-meshed interplay between them. Impeccable casting helps: Tumba Katanda is suitably earnest, eager and intellectual as nerdy\/wordy Eve, Izzy Radford is irritatingly sweet and outstandingly stupid as Scarlett, and Lauryn Jenkins excels as highly-strung line manager Yasmin, goading, encouraging and cracking up in turn (at one point, after a dressing down by Cassie, she sits under her desk and repeats affirmations into a bin). Eleanor Cross, as late arrival Eliza, supplies an extra burst of energy and slick repartee.<\/p>\n
Grace Rumsey\u2019s Barbie pink, furry-textured \u2018flexispace\u2019 set is appropriately, oppressively feminine, and the intense lights and sounds of Jacob Henney and Pierre Flasse set the jarring tone admirably.<\/p>\n
One of the few shortcomings of this pacy, on-point comedy is that there just aren\u2019t enough actual true crime stories to underpin the podcast context: perhaps a short story read out by Cassie would help.<\/p>\n
Most of the play\u2019s jargon and references are comprehensible, but older viewers might benefit from watching with media-immersed acquaintances in their early 20s. They\u2019re out in force to see this near-sold-out show, laughing and snorting in recognition: Big Dog is biting satire at its funniest and most relatable.<\/p>\n
Runs\u00a0until 1 August 2026 and then at Edinburgh Fringe<\/p>\n
Bitesize Festival 50 runs until 30 August 2026<\/p>\n
\t\t\tThe Reviews Hub Star Rating <\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t90%<\/p>\n
\t\t\tHysterical podcasting satire<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Writer: Izzy Radford Director: Zo\u00eb Templeman-Young Unleashed at Riverside Studios\u2019 yearly short-form festival Bitesize is Big Dog from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":95467,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[26],"tags":[40657,40658,40659,40660,40661,40662,40663,40664,27,40665,3953,40666,387,40667,40668],"class_list":["post-95466","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-london","tag-big-dog","tag-bitesize-festival","tag-cameron-currie","tag-eleanor-cross","tag-grace-rumsey","tag-izzy-radford","tag-jacob-henney","tag-lauryn-jenkins","tag-london","tag-pierre-flasse","tag-review","tag-riverside-studios","tag-theatre","tag-tumba-katanda","tag-zoe-templeman-young"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@UnitedKingdom\/117022214223656206","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95466","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95466"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95466\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/95467"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}