Category Archives: Reviews

A brilliant solo tour de force: Fear and Loathing and Lovecraft. A guest Fringe review by Alan Kellogg

Posted on August 16, 2019 by Liz Nicholls

By Alan Kellogg Fear and Loathing and Lovecraft (Stage 13 (Old Strathcona Public Library) If there is a Fringe godhead, surely Mark Meer and P.J. Dawe are part of it, floating somewhere in the ether. Or perhaps….below, somewhere, in this … Continue reading →

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“A rich, tempestuous life” comes to the stage: unmissable Josephine, a guest Fringe review by Marc Horton

Posted on August 16, 2019 by Liz Nicholls

Josephine (Stage 1, Westbury Theatre) By Marc Horton Last year on a visit to Paris we stayed at a charming hotel where each floor was dedicated to a famous resident of that wonderful city. For example, folks stepping from the … Continue reading →

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Back in the fairy ring: Flora & Fawna Have Beaver Fever (and so does Fleurette). A Fringe review

Posted on August 16, 2019 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca Flora & Fawna Have Beaver Fever (and so does Fleurette), Stage 12 (Varscona Theatre) “Thank you and welcome for coming,” says Fawna, gamely trying to overcome natural melancholy and achieve stage vivacity. She’s one of the … Continue reading →

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My three (perfect) sons: Gossamer Feast, a Fringe review

Posted on August 16, 2019 by Liz Nicholls

Gossamer Feast (Stage 15, Holy Trinity Anglican Church) Ah, the family dinner, site of countless tense dramas: This puckish and salty little 2009 comedy by Gerald Osborn is an antidote for everyone who’s ever doubled down on Tums wondering how … Continue reading →

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Hello. He’s Johnny Cash. Ring of Fire at the Citadel, a review

Posted on July 26, 2019 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca It’s one of the signature showbiz openers of the 20th century: “Hello. I’m Johnny Cash.” That greeting is the raison d’être of Ring of Fire, the musically fulsome/ dramatically skimpy jukebox musical that’s currently eliciting full-house cheers … Continue reading →

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The Bad Seed returns to chill at Teatro La Quindicina. A review.

Posted on July 13, 2019 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca That angelic smile. That impeccable posture. Those unassailably perfect braids.… “Too good to be true,” someone says admiringly of eight-year-old Rhoda Penmark near the start of The Bad Seed. It’s meant to be the ultimate compliment. … Continue reading →

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A strange fairy tale, rescued magically by Time from tragedy: The Winter’s Tale in the park

Posted on July 8, 2019 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca There is a strange magic about a play where brute tragedy gives way to pastoral comedy, realism mixes it up with romance, and dramatic scenes abut presentational vaudeville. The Winter’s Tale has the optical weirdness of … Continue reading →

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Sleuth: a vintage thriller at the Mayfield. A review.

Posted on July 5, 2019 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca It’s a tricky business to give a theatre audience a spine-tingle of suspense, clenches of tension, periodic jolts of surprise, an invitation to exercise their own puzzle-decoding skills — ah, and laughter. That’s the fun of … Continue reading →

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Boys will be boys: taking the mickey out of male bonding in Two Gents, a bitter comedy in the park

Posted on July 1, 2019 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca A passing squirrel, who turned his back to the stage, was not convinced. And the wind whispering through the poplars sounded downright skeptical this weekend in the park when a lovestruck young man tore himself away … Continue reading →

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Strangers till they’re not: one last chance to see A Likely Story at Teatro

Posted on June 22, 2019 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca “You are a stranger though,” says a character, musing on whether to lay out her life conundrum to someone she’s just met in an unspecified place that turns out to be … a train station. “Ah, … Continue reading →

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