Handful of Bugs – Bigfoot: In Plain Sight

“Bigfoot: In Plain Sight” is a fictionalised-memoir slash comedy-play about Sasquatch enthusiast Robert H. McKinley Jr., who sets off into the Canadian wilderness to befriend the cryptid and reunite with his Bigfoot-loving father. That’s about all I can tell you about the plot without spoilers. And trust me: this is, moreso than most, not a show that you want spoiled. Like a good hike in the woods: the joy is in the journey. 

Handful of Bugs’ latest show is a lot goofy, a little absurd, and phenomenally clever. The production design was surprisingly well-thought out and brilliantly executed, and performer Alex Donnelly clearly possesses the comedic chops to carry a one-person show. 

But, what truly makes “Bigfoot: In Plain Sight” an absolute top pick for me is the way that it plays with truth. This is textual (this is a play about Bigfoot hunters, after all) but it’s also metatextual. What’s real? What’s fake? Much like notable photographic ‘evidence’ of Bigfoot, the lines remain frustratingly and brilliantly blurry.

I’ve spent an embarrassing amount of time today Googling this show, trying to parse out the text’s relationship to the real world. This is something no comedy has ever made me do, so kudos to this wonderful, silly little piece of art for making me feel absolutely rabid. I’m one step away from cracking out the cork-board, newspaper clippings, and red string. In other words: right now I feel, I imagine, exactly like a Bigfoot enthusiast. Except the source of my obsession is a Comedy Festival show rather than a big hairy creature. 

I can count on one hand the number of times a comedy has made me feel this passionate. “Bigfoot: In Plain Sight” is really something incredible.