Category Archives: Reviews

You can’t not discuss this one: As You Like It, A Radical Retelling is the first play at the New Roxy, a (very) short review

Posted on May 1, 2022 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca “Thus we may see … how the world wags.” — William Shakespeare, As You Like It, II, vii It’s bold. It’s ballsy, a genuinely provocative theatre experiment. And — here’s a 100 per cent guarantee — … Continue reading →

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Two-Headed/ Half-Hearted: the twinned urge to be joined and apart in Northern Light Theatre’s new musical. A review

Posted on April 23, 2022 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca There they sit, motionless under a rosy moon, a two-headed prairie oracle atop a body wrapped in mystery.  They’re the centrepiece of an eerie altar: a bank of ghostly corn stalks, a gothic farmhouse facade, an … Continue reading →

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Nostalgia in gold lamé: Mamma Mia! at the Mayfield, a review

Posted on April 17, 2022 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca The Mamma Mia! Effect, in a nutshell. Read the title, and a whole archive of hits instantly catapults into the centre of your mind as if they’d never left. And they lodge there for at least … Continue reading →

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‘It makes us vibrate, makes us feel’: The Power of the Drum from the Cuban Movements Dance Academy. A review

Posted on April 11, 2022 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca It’s no coincidence that Afro-Cuban drumming doesn’t involve drumsticks. It’s hands-on, literally and metaphorically. The power of the drum, as the show of that name onstage at the Westbury Theatre tells us, is that it shares … Continue reading →

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Reading the signs: The Herd premieres at the Citadel. A review.

Posted on April 10, 2022 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca The stage is dominated by a stunning screen — glowing, translucent,  undulating like the prairies, with a graceful open-work lattice (Indigenous Tiffany?). In The Herd the boundary between the present and the past, this world and other … Continue reading →

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Jane Eyre lives in a haunted world: Erin Shields’ new adaptation at the Citadel. A review

Posted on April 6, 2022 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca The opening image of Jane Eyre, currently premiering on the Citadel’s Maclab stage through Sunday, is a solitary little girl reading in a pool of light, enclosed in space by blank window frames. The orphan heroine … Continue reading →

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A comedy set in Kelowna? Teatro La Quindicina turns 40 with Caribbean Muskrat, a review

Posted on April 2, 2022 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca It’s telling that the oddball 2004 comedy launching Teatro La Quindicina’s return-to-live 40th anniversary season seems to wriggle out of every known category of their specialty. I refer of course to comedy. Teatro, after all, is … Continue reading →

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What? A land claim comedy? The surprising geniality of Cottagers and Indians at Shadow Theatre. A review

Posted on March 12, 2022 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca It’s no accident that the first sound you hear in Cottagers and Indians is laughter (with some accompaniment from amused birds).    The Drew Hayden Taylor play with the cheeky title that’s running in the Shadow … Continue reading →

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‘Who were we before life got hold of us?’ Thoughts on Ayita at the SkirtsAfire festival

Posted on March 5, 2022 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca To walk into the Westbury Theatre these days is to find yourself in a world that’s mysterious but familiar, calm but in perpetual motion.  Whittyn Jason’s captivating design puts us in the centre of a wave … Continue reading →

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Shoring up the world against cosmic chaos: the fun of Peter Pan Goes Wrong, a review

Posted on March 4, 2022 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca “All the world is made of faith and trust and pixie dust.”  True, J.M. Barrie, the creator of the boy who wouldn’t grow up, was not actually alluding to the world of live theatre in this … Continue reading →

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