Category Archives: Reviews

The existentialists from Ummo are back: Mump and Smoot in Exit, at Theatre Network. A review.

Posted on October 11, 2024 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca Mump and Smoot arrive, as always, from a mysterious place, through the crowd — inhabitants of another mysterious place, the theatre (that’s us!). And, as always, they’re mid-adventure, mid-conversation, en route to the stage. It’s dark; … Continue reading →

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Illusion and delusion: A Streetcar Named Desire at the Citadel. A review

Posted on September 27, 2024 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca One of American theatre’s greatest plays about illusion and delusion — and the power and limitations of both — is the season-opener at the Citadel. And in Daryl Cloran’s beautifully acted production of A Streetcar Named … Continue reading →

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Nashville Music City: the 50th anniversary season opener at the Mayfield does its storytelling in music. A review

Posted on September 8, 2024 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca Nashville: Music City, which launches the 50th anniversary season at the Mayfield, begins and ends with Will the Circle Be Unbroken. It’s a thought that counts in any half-century birthday celebration in the world of theatre. … Continue reading →

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Die-Nasty, the meta-Fringe fringified edition. A report/ review sort of thing from 12thnight

Posted on August 22, 2024 by Liz Nicholls

Die-Nasty! Edmonton’s Live Improvised Soap Opera (Stage 11, Varscona Theatre) By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca I finally dropped in last night on Die-Nasty, the ultra-meta super-fringified Fringe edition of Edmonton’s weekly improvised soap, a venerable must-see Edmonton comedy institution. It’s set … Continue reading →

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How hard can it be? The real-world theatre of the absurd in 638 Ways To Kill Castro. A Fringe review

Posted on August 22, 2024 by Liz Nicholls

638 Ways To Kill Castro (Stage 3, Nancy Power Theatre at the Roxy) By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca As a source of absurdity in the world, there might actually be a rich, limitless, renewable repository in … reality. And this smart … Continue reading →

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Amazing but true: mind-exploding synchronicity from the brain inside Gordon’s Big Bald Head

Posted on August 22, 2024 by Liz Nicholls

Amazing but true. A quick sidenote to Monster Theatre’s Erika The Red (my review is here). By a mind-exploding Fringe synchronicity, on Wednesday I saw improv virtuosos Gordon’s Big Bald Head, actually improvise on the Varscona Theatre stage (Stage 11) an … Continue reading →

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Complicated fun with Vikings: Erika The Red from Monster Theatre. A Fringe review

Posted on August 22, 2024 by Liz Nicholls

Erika The Red (Stage 15, Campus Saint-Jean Auditorium) By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca In Erika The Red, Tara Travis single-handedly populates the stage with the following: villages of doomed Scandinavians, boat-loads of ferocious Viking warriors, a gang of inept but aspirational … Continue reading →

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Til’ (a whole bunch of stuff, check the box) do us part: I, Diana. A Fringe review

Posted on August 21, 2024 by Liz Nicholls

I, Diana (Stage 2, The Next Act Backstage Theatre) By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca Narcissism requires constant maintenance and sustenance. In this light-hearted new relationship comedy, with a twist, from Linda Wood Edwards, we meet the kind of someone theatre blurbs … Continue reading →

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Camping with “two special girls”: Let’s Not Turn On Each Other, a Fringe REVIEW

Posted on August 21, 2024 by Liz Nicholls

Let’s Not Turn On Each Other (Stage 25, Spotlight Cabaret) By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca Now, here’s a theatrical welcome to warm the heart. An appealing pair of clowns, whose resting state is high excitement, are downright ecstatic when they catch … Continue reading →

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Jay-suss, saving souls, and raising money: Brother Love’s Good Time Gospel Hour, a Fringe revew

Posted on August 21, 2024 by Liz Nicholls

Brother Love’s Good Time Gospel Hour (Stage 1, ATB Westbury Theatre) By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca “Edmonton, are you ready to be saved!?” asks Brother Love, travelling salvation salesman  — and purveyor of such spiritual aides as his ‘dirty preacher wives’ … Continue reading →

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