BRIGHTON FRINGE – Bluff Creek, The Lantern Theatre

Writer: Charlie Flynn

Co-directors: Charlie Flynn & Aya O’Shea

Sound Designer: Matt Eaton 

Reviewer: Lela Tredwell

Transporting us to Big Foot Country, this monologue of a very tall tale is a thing of absolute wonder. Defying all good sense, it will make a believer out of even the most hardened cryptozoologist and/or theatre goer. With just a chair, a hat, and the plaster cast of one really big foot, Roger Patterson (Charlie Flynn) takes us back to Bluff Creek.   

Even before the lights go up we are somehow transfixed. There’s something in the air. The con is already underway. Charlie Flynn as Patterson has us hanging on his every word. Unsuspectingly from first glance, he encapsulates that guy in the bar who holds the crowd entranced with his latest scheme or misadventure. Whether conman or compulsive liar, we like him, against all our better judgement, and he knows as much, so he takes us along for the ride.

Brought to the Brighton Fringe by Loose Threads, this is the legend of the men behind the infamous footage of America’s Abominable Snowman, the hidden monster at Bluff Creek who has fuelled countless imaginations ever since. We see the original film twice during the show much to our delight. Man in a monkey suit? The real deal Sasquatch? It’s an effective bookend for this, Roger Patterson’s incredible tale.

Patterson (Flynn) has his quest to find Bigfoot sounding rather noble and his openness about his own talents in the charm department just make him all the more endearing. What is so effective about this piece is it doesn’t need bells and whistles. With superb acting, it is one guy telling a yarn. It’s perfect for conveying the powerful personality of Roger Patterson. And it has us falling in love a little, with the landscape, with the hunt, and with this hapless soul. 

It’s a beautifully constructed monologue that pulls the audience in from the go and keeps us captivated. The soundscape from Matt Eaton is extremely effective and supports our transportation into this wild landscape of North America with well-timed bird song and crickets. We leave the theatre feeling like we don’t really know where we are. Nor can we quite remember who we are. We only know something has changed… so we are giving it our ‘grandmother’ – five stars – because it asked real nice and we just can’t say no to those two blues.

Reviewed on 4th May 2026