Monthly Archives: June 2025

Rediscovering the self you’ve lost (with sun and sea): Shirley Valentine at the Mayfield, a review

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca At the Mayfield, you have a chance to see a vintage show get a new lease on life — just like its heroine.  Shirley Valentine, a 1986 solo play by the Liverpool playwright Willy Russell, is … Continue reading

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Rediscovering the self you’ve lost (with sun and sea): Shirley Valentine at the Mayfield, a review

Troy O’Donnell has a history with the Freewill Shakespeare Festival, and this year’s As You Like It

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca The play that opens Friday in a park overlooking the river valley is all about finding yourself on an excursion to the great outdoors, “the green world.” No wonder the Freewill Shakespeare Festival, which has gone … Continue reading

Posted in Previews | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Troy O’Donnell has a history with the Freewill Shakespeare Festival, and this year’s As You Like It

Remembering the season in Edmonton theatre, highlights part 1

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca In Goblin:Macbeth, the brilliant Spontaneous Theatre production that came to the Citadel’s Highwire Series this season, one of the goblin stars wonders aloud what the strange human ritual called theatre is actually for, anyhow. And he … Continue reading

Posted in Features | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Remembering the season in Edmonton theatre, highlights part 1

The sound of Silence: a new opera at NUOVA Vocal Arts, a review

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca Silence. Now there’s a puckish name for an opera. With Silence, NUOVA Vocal Arts has taken in hand an expansive, richly imagined 1999 play by the English playwright/screenwriter Moira Buffini. This new addition to the opera … Continue reading

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on The sound of Silence: a new opera at NUOVA Vocal Arts, a review

Get festive: it’s a four-festival weekend on (and above and near) Edmonton stages

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca We sure do know how to get festive in this town. It’s a FOUR-festival weekend on (and above and near and beyond) Edmonton stages. So a toast is in order. •At the Exchange Theatre in Strathcona, … Continue reading

Posted in Features, Previews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Get festive: it’s a four-festival weekend on (and above and near) Edmonton stages

Play into opera: Darrin Hagen turns his hand to writing a libretto. And the rest is Silence, premiering at NUOVA Vocal Arts

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca Darrin Hagen has written plays, songs, stories, essays, queer histories, a memoir, an award-winning film documentary. He’s created drag cabarets (and sometimes starred in them too), devised queer tours, hosted web series, created music videos. He’s … Continue reading

Posted in Previews | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Play into opera: Darrin Hagen turns his hand to writing a libretto. And the rest is Silence, premiering at NUOVA Vocal Arts

New plays for size large stages: the Citadel’s Collider Festival is back

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca Think big. That’s the not-secret agenda of the festival that returns to the Citadel Friday. The Collider Fest, named for the collision of artists and forms, is all about developing new plays for size large and … Continue reading

Posted in Features, Previews | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on New plays for size large stages: the Citadel’s Collider Festival is back

The season in Edmonton theatre: the 2024-2025 Sterling Award nominations

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca A large-scale jukebox musical adaptation of Shakespeare’s most popular comedy and a small-scale bruisingly physical indie production proved the top choices of jurors as the 36th annual Sterling Award nominations were announced Monday. Named for the … Continue reading

Posted in Features, News/Views | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on The season in Edmonton theatre: the 2024-2025 Sterling Award nominations

Your last crack at a couple of festivals and a screwball on E-town stages, a small 12thnight survey on a wet weekend

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca Live theatre lives in the moment (not a new thought but one to consider this wet weekend in Edmonton) It’s your last chance… •… And also your first, to see Sprouts, Concrete Theatre’s annual festival of … Continue reading

Posted in Features | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Your last crack at a couple of festivals and a screwball on E-town stages, a small 12thnight survey on a wet weekend

A Fringe Full Of Stars: the upcoming 44th annual Edmonton Fringe Festival has a theme, and shows

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca Where theatre meets astronomy (by starlight): the upcoming 44th annual Edmonton Fringe has its theme. A Fringe Full of Stars, this year’s edition of Edmonton’s mighty summer theatre festival, running Aug. 14 to 24, was christened … Continue reading

Posted in Features, News/Views | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on A Fringe Full Of Stars: the upcoming 44th annual Edmonton Fringe Festival has a theme, and shows