Author Archives: Liz Nicholls

The world’s a zany, baffling place: The Comedy of Errors in the park

Posted on June 22, 2018 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca At a crucial mistaken-identity moment in The Comedy of Errors — a transaction-gone-askew involving a goldsmith, a chain, and a wayward husband arranging delivery on pricey bling for someone not his wife — a magpie perched … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on The world’s a zany, baffling place: The Comedy of Errors in the park

Taking comedy and tragedy to the park: the Freewill Shakespeare Festival returns

Posted on June 21, 2018 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca There’s a vast expanse of theatrical distance between the two shows you’ll see alternating in the outdoor Shakespeare festival that opens tonight in the river valley. Tonight’s show is a comedy, and a farcical one at that; … Continue reading →

Posted in Previews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Taking comedy and tragedy to the park: the Freewill Shakespeare Festival returns

30 summers of Shakespeare in the great outdoors

Posted on June 20, 2018 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca ‘Tis wondrous strange, but there was a time, now receding into the mists of the past, when Shakespeare (Will to his friends) didn’t camp out in the river valley every summer. When you couldn’t drift down … Continue reading →

Posted in Features, Previews | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on 30 summers of Shakespeare in the great outdoors

But hark, a new play! Thou Art Here at Freewill Shakespeare Festival

Posted on June 17, 2018 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca “For the long and short is, our play is preferred….”  (IV, ii, A Midsummer Night’s Dream) In one of the most reliably hilarious (and heartwarming) sequences in all of Shakespeare, a co-op of serious and inept … Continue reading →

Posted in Previews | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on But hark, a new play! Thou Art Here at Freewill Shakespeare Festival

What to see at Improvaganza: thoughts from sampler night

Posted on June 14, 2018 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca Improvaganza is back — and with it the chance to be with people, onstage and off- who are making it up as they go along.  Rapid Fire Theatre’s 18th annual international extravaganza, which assembles top improv … Continue reading →

Posted in Features, News/Views | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on What to see at Improvaganza: thoughts from sampler night

The art of spontaneity enters a disturbing new dimension: The Society of Strange comes to Improvaganza 2018

Posted on June 13, 2018 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca Unlikely. Improbable. Unpredictable. Improvaganza, the 10-day festival with bona fide global connections, expressly devoted to the adrenalized art of the spontaneous, is all of that. With The Society of Strange, arriving from across the pond for the … Continue reading →

Posted in Features, Previews | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on The art of spontaneity enters a disturbing new dimension: The Society of Strange comes to Improvaganza 2018

A season on Edmonton stages: a look back

Posted on June 12, 2018 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca In the opening scene of Jabberwocky, the latest from the Old Trout Puppet Workshop (at Theatre Network this past season), a drum roll announces the parting of a red velvet theatre curtain. Which opens to reveal … Continue reading →

Posted in Features | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on A season on Edmonton stages: a look back

The year onstage in Sterling Award nominations

Posted on June 4, 2018 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca An original folk opera/ musical that took us to hell and back was the top choice of jurors as the 31st annual Sterling Award nominations were announced Monday at Fringe Theatre Adventures headquarters. The awards, to … Continue reading →

Posted in News/Views | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on The year onstage in Sterling Award nominations

The hunger to know and the mystery of the past: a compelling new play by Stewart Lemoine premieres at Teatro La Quindicina

Posted on June 1, 2018 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca A man, a well-known TV investigative reporter, returns to the small-town house where he spent a year as a six-year-old boy. He’s having coffee with the affable current owner, a stranger to him, when he discovers … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on The hunger to know and the mystery of the past: a compelling new play by Stewart Lemoine premieres at Teatro La Quindicina

A marriage and a dinner party: The Gooseberry at Nextfest

Posted on June 1, 2018 by Liz Nicholls

The mainstage theatre lineup at Nextfest 2018 includes four productions of strikingly diverse and unusual inspirations and theatrical styles. 12thnight.ca talked to the playwrights. Meet Juniper Wisniewski, creator of The Gooseberry, a black comedy in which a dinner party is the … Continue reading →

Posted in Previews | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on A marriage and a dinner party: The Gooseberry at Nextfest