If you wanted to attend the cancelled season of Bigfoot: In Plain Sight at Melbourne Fringe 2024, you’ve got another chance this Melbourne International Comedy Festival. It will help your enjoyment to be in a mood for some extremely goofy physical comedy.
The show’s setup relates to Robert H. McKinley Snr, a woodsman and Bigfoot researcher, not to be mistaken for the namesake of Mount McKinley in Alaska – must just be a coincidence. Some years ago, the man went missing.
Now, the story gets a bit hazy, depending on whether you believe the MICF blurb or what we are told live, which is more than a little curious…
On stage we have Alex Donnelly playing various characters, including McKinley’s junior and senior, whom we would visit with in various flashes back and forwards. The plot concerns McKinley senior’s bond with Bigfoot, being ostracised by his remote Canadian town of Hope, and his disappearance.
This prompted McKinley junior to use dad’s journal to solve the mystery, leading to the release of his 2012 book (only available from the son’s Ebay account, set up around Melb Fringe 2024, oddly enough).
There’s a rough-hewn quality to the script, which cannot seem to make up its mind about whether McKinley senior is viewed as a crackpot by the town, or that the existence of Bigfoot is taken as a given by townsfolk.
We also have a departure from the main story that runs a bit too long, sabotaging the work’s momentum. Trimming some unnecessary repetition here would surely help get the tale back on track.
If these kinds of potholes don’t bother you that much, then, like much of the audience, you are likely to enjoy Donnelly’s performance as various simple, outdoorsy folk. The quick changes were well done, and when they weren’t, Donnelly pressed on regardless, often getting some bonus laughs.
Add in some low-rent special effects and Donnelly’s snappy use of sound cues, and we get a kind of “boys own adventure” with both a dose of ridiculousness and a more modern edge.
Bigfoot: In Plain Sight
The Malthouse – Playbox, 113 Sturt Street, Southbank
Performance: Friday 11 April 2025 – 8:30pm
Season continues to 20 April 2025
Information and Bookings: www.comedyfestival.com.au
Image: Alex Donnelly stars in Bigfoot: In Plain Sight (supplied)
Review: Jason Whyte