Author Archives: Liz Nicholls

The building of Pressure, at Nextfest. Meet playwright Amanda Samuelson

Posted on June 3, 2022 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca Amanda Samuelson remembers the moment Pressure began to build.  Her play, which gets a workshop reading at Nextfest Saturday and then becomes Nextfest’s first-ever official Fringe show in August, began in the winter of 2018. In … Continue reading →

Posted in Previews | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on The building of Pressure, at Nextfest. Meet playwright Amanda Samuelson

Nextfest 2022, live and under one roof, at the new Roxy

Posted on May 31, 2022 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca When you ask Nextfest artistic director Ellen Chorley what’s new at the festival this year, she laughs. “Everything!” she says of the 27th annual edition of the influential multi-disciplinary festival that showcases and celebrates emerging artists. … Continue reading →

Posted in Previews | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on Nextfest 2022, live and under one roof, at the new Roxy

Art will prevail: a change of venue for L’UniThéâtre’s season finale

Posted on May 30, 2022 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca If the last two years have taught us anything it’s that art will prevail. And so will Art, the, er, art-ful 1994 Yasmina Reza hit comedy that is  L’UniThéâtre’s season finale.  Last Friday night’s storm and … Continue reading →

Posted in News/Views | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Art will prevail: a change of venue for L’UniThéâtre’s season finale

A comedy thriller with a Wagnerian reverb: Evelyn Strange at Teatro, a review

Posted on May 28, 2022 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca A beautiful amnesiac in a trench coat finds herself in a grand tier box at the Met c. 1955, sitting through a performance of Wagner’s five-hour Siegfried. She needs time to think and, hey, The Ring … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on A comedy thriller with a Wagnerian reverb: Evelyn Strange at Teatro, a review

The one-way time portal into war: Alina, a review

Posted on May 27, 2022 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca “Trains, they’re like time portals,” says the title character of Alina, who steps into one at the outset. On a train you leave one world and you arrive in another.  The question the drives the gripping … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on The one-way time portal into war: Alina, a review

Destination Fringe: Edmonton Fringe Theatre is back with a moniker, a live festival, and a curated season of productions

Posted on May 26, 2022 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca The Edmonton Fringe is back, live, this summer, for a big 41st edition, in a place where that really matters. And its name speaks volumes: Destination Fringe. Yes, fellow travellers, as live theatre emerges from the … Continue reading →

Posted in News/Views, Previews | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Destination Fringe: Edmonton Fringe Theatre is back with a moniker, a live festival, and a curated season of productions

The strange cycles of theatre: Shannon Blanchet returns to Teatro to direct the vintage comedy thriller Evelyn Strange

Posted on May 25, 2022 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca Every once in a while the world of live theatre pulls off one of those satisfying but fanciful multi-strand time loops that wouldn’t be out of place in a play. Opera is involved; so is comedy. … Continue reading →

Posted in Previews | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on The strange cycles of theatre: Shannon Blanchet returns to Teatro to direct the vintage comedy thriller Evelyn Strange

The inheritance of war and the passion for freedom: Alina is a Ukrainian story

Posted on May 23, 2022 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca In early 2015, a 19-year-old woman left Kyiv, and everything in her life there — and she went to the front line of the war zone in eastern Ukraine. Alina was not a soldier. She was … Continue reading →

Posted in Previews | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off on The inheritance of war and the passion for freedom: Alina is a Ukrainian story

An ensemble devoted to expanding the comedy spectrum: Teatro at 40, the birthday season continues

Posted on May 18, 2022 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca Teatro La Quindicina at 40. An artist-run company specially tuned to comedy, with co-artistic directors who both made their Teatro debuts as actors: same season (2005-2006), different plays, roles written specially for them by playwright/Teatro muse … Continue reading →

Posted in News/Views, Previews | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on An ensemble devoted to expanding the comedy spectrum: Teatro at 40, the birthday season continues

Sexual assault in the world of Friend or Unfriend: Tell Us What Happened at Workshop West. A review.

Posted on May 15, 2022 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca In Michelle Robb’s tense new play, premiering at Workshop West in Heather Inglis’s production, young characters slam up hard against complicated questions — at contradictory angles. But here’s the rub: they live in a world that … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Sexual assault in the world of Friend or Unfriend: Tell Us What Happened at Workshop West. A review.