Author Archives: Liz Nicholls

‘Music without ego’: background music vs silence, a fierce battle in Listen Listen, a new Teatro comedy. A review

Posted on May 27, 2023 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca There is a quixotic premise that underscores Listen Listen, the new Elyne Quan comedy premiering in the Teatro Live season in a Belinda Cornish production. And it will make you smile. In a mall in 1986, … Continue reading →

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The Answer Is Fringe: the upcoming 42nd edition of our summer theatre bash, and a curated season of shows, too

Posted on May 26, 2023 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca We’ve long suspected it. And now it’s official. “The answer to the Great Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything” is … the Fringe.  The Answer is Fringe, the upcoming 42nd annual edition of Edmonton’s summer … Continue reading →

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Fame and fortune in the digital world: Liam Salmon’s Subscribe or Like taps into millennial ambition

Posted on May 25, 2023 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca You’ve got to figure it’s no accident Liam Salmon wants to meet for coffee the old-fashioned way, in person, to talk about their new play Subscribe or Like, premiering live and in person Friday at Workshop … Continue reading →

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Listen, Listen: a new Teatro Live ‘Muzak-al comedy’ by Elyne Quan. Meet the playwright in this preview

Posted on May 23, 2023 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca For five years or so, a character has taken up residence in a back corner in Elyne Quan’s writer brain. He’s an ideal renter. He lives quietly; he doesn’t play his music loud. Montague Gray, who … Continue reading →

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The fascinating contradictions of Anahita’s Republic, a review

Posted on May 22, 2023 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca Anahita’s Republic is a thriller set in a mysterious world of concealed faces and shadows, secret agents, secret police, hidden agendas. That world is contemporary Iran. The playwriting duo of Hengameh E. Rice, one half Iranian … Continue reading →

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The improbable magic of live: Flop! the improvised musical, a little review

Posted on May 21, 2023 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca Calling an improvised musical Flop! is like calling a plastic surgery practice Oops! or an aerial circus Thud!. It’s irresistible; you can’t not look. But then, it’s clearly impossible: making up an entire musical, with an … Continue reading →

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The dark pathways to coming-of-age: Boy Trouble at Fringe Theatre, a review

Posted on May 19, 2023 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca The theatre is dim, lit with a barrage of come-hither text messages: “send a vid”, “wyd”, “join me and a couple buds”, “your cute”, “no pic no chat” “my truck?”. When the lights come up, you … Continue reading →

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Spinning an urban story on wheels: Thou Art Here opens its season with Cycle

Posted on May 18, 2023 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca Andrew Ritchie has spent the last year spinning his wheels. He’s been up on his bike writing the solo play that shares a lane with an audience this weekend for the first time. Cycle, which launches … Continue reading →

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Anahita’s Republic: a thriller takes us into the world of Iran and the struggle for women’s rights

Posted on May 17, 2023 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca The thriller that gets its Alberta premiere Friday at the Backstage Theatre takes us to a tense world where “freedom” reverberates at a frequency very different from our own. The disparity between its application to men … Continue reading →

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A new Canadian musical tells a Filipino story: Prison Dancer premieres at the Citadel. A review

Posted on May 13, 2023 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca A human sparkler stands before us, a queen with gorgeous chiffon wings, in prison orange. That’s prisoner Ruperto Poblador, aka Lola (played by the charismatic Julio Fuentes), onstage to reveal how she became an internet influencer … Continue reading →

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