Category Archives: Reviews

We are haunted by our losses: Phantom Limbs at Expanse

Posted on March 27, 2026 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca I want to tell you about a haunting and mysterious play I saw last weekend at the Expanse Fest. Phantom Limbs is one of those experiences that move into your mind and lodge there. It’s a … Continue reading →

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‘Gotta go make some hi-story’: The Revolutionists at Shadow, a review

Posted on March 20, 2026 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca The Revolutionists, a comedy (well, “mostly a comedy” as billed) by the American playwright Lauren Gunderson, on stage in the Shadow Theatre season, is bookended with a killer sound effect: the storied metallic swoosh of the … Continue reading →

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Are we there yet? Four friends on a road trip: The Wizard of Oz at the Citadel, a review

Posted on March 15, 2026 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca As cinematic icons go, The Wizard of Oz, the great musical fantasy film of 1939, occupies a pop culture niche of its own — the plucky prairie girl with the little dog and the ultimate dream escape … Continue reading →

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We’re in it together: some thoughts on Shannan Calcutt’s Things I Shouldn’t Tell You at SkirtsAfire

Posted on March 15, 2026 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca At the next-to-last moment this weekend at this year’s SkirtsAfire Festival I got a chance to see what happens when a premier clown steps bravely forth to share a big grown-up secret. In Things I Shouldn’t … Continue reading →

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The man with the voice and the songs: One Night With Roy Orbison at the Mayfield, a review

Posted on February 8, 2026 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca Early in the vintage hit-studded revue currently on the Mayfield stage, the narrator tells us that before his career really took off, an aspiring young Texas singer-songwriter named Roy Orbison pitched an original song to Elvis. … Continue reading →

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Attention must be paid: Death of a Salesman at the Citadel, a review

Posted on January 30, 2026 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca The first sight we have of the most indelible character in the 20th century theatre is a man alone, trudging wearily towards us in the murk of an empty stage. He’s a man with baggage, lugging … Continue reading →

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Why do we keep making war anyhow? The addiction to rage: An Iliad at Shadow Theatre, a review

Posted on January 23, 2026 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca “Every time I sing this song, I hope it’s the last time,” says the man before us, a travelling storyteller with a gift of the gab, who’s arrived on crutches (not a prop, Michael Peng has … Continue reading →

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What’s Calgary got that we don’t have? Under the spell of the Dream Machine, at the High Performance Rodeo

Posted on January 19, 2026 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca A question for this theatre town of ours: what has Calgary got that we don’t have? A: One Yellow Rabbit, an influential multi-disciplinary troupe of brainy incautious artistic renegades of the experimental stripe, with their own … Continue reading →

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Those Belle Époque bohemians are the party people: Moulin Rouge The Musical, a review

Posted on January 14, 2026 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca Those Belle Époque bohemians sure know how to party. Your retinas will be dazzled the moment you enter the theatre. And that, mes amis, isn’t going to stop, or even pause, for the next two-and-a-half hours … Continue reading →

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Yippee-ki-yay, you’ll get a kick out of Die Harsh: The Christmas Musical, a review

Posted on December 12, 2025 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca The Christmas show is the natural home of the flashback, ’tis true. (I give you Scrooge’s night course in how to not be a relentless jerk). But it’s a special kind of Christmas show that opens … Continue reading →

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