Category Archives: Reviews

On the edge of the world: Come From Away. A review.

Posted on March 13, 2019 by Liz Nicholls

Becky Gulsvig and Emily Watson (front) in Come From Away. Photo by Matthew Murphy. By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca Welcome to the Rock. “You are here, at the start of a moment, on the edge of the world,” sings the ensemble … Continue reading →

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“You have to put it right!” Matilda the Musical, at the Citadel. A review.

Posted on February 22, 2019 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca Wicked, I tell you. Wicked fun, that is, the smart, joyful musical that’s currently promoting anti-authoritarian resistance, empowerment, and self-determination  — for children! — from the Citadel’s Shoctor stage. Based on Roald Dahl’s delightfully dark 1988 … Continue reading →

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The road to Mesa: a buddy pic with a difference. A review.

Posted on February 22, 2019 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca Funny how the concept “road trip” conjures two sets of images, almost entirely contradictory. One is fuelled by sheer romance, the cinematic sweep of conquering vastness in a first-hand way: the questing spirit with car keys, … Continue reading →

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Élise contre l’extinction totale: a new L’UniThéâtre show for and about kids – and the planet – hits the road

Posted on February 17, 2019 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca Anxiety about climate change and the fate of the earth isn’t the exclusive domain of adults. And “save the planet” isn’t vaguely theoretical, or metaphorical, or political: 16,306 species of animals are currently at risk of … Continue reading →

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The tricky question of belief: We Are Not Alone at Theatre Network. A review

Posted on February 15, 2019 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca “What am I doing here?” asks Damien Atkins more than once in the course of his smart, sly, funny solo show We Are Not Alone. Its declared subject is one that raises either your hopes or … Continue reading →

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Songs My Mother Never Sung Me: a coming-of-age deaf/hearing chamber opera at Chinook

Posted on February 14, 2019 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca “This is the story of how my mom helped me find my voice,” says the narrator (the excellent Kieran Martin Murphy) in Songs My Mother Never Sung Me, a touching, and ingenious, new bilingual chamber opera” … Continue reading →

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Lend Me A Tenor: a classic ’30s door-slammer at the Mayfield. A review

Posted on February 11, 2019 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca “These things happen, sir,” ventures Max, the rabbity assistant manager of the Cleveland Grand Opera Company, trying to look on the bright side. In view of the premise of Ken Ludwig’s ingeniously engineered old-school 1986 farce … Continue reading →

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Lake of the Strangers: a magical mystery tour of a vast universe. A review

Posted on January 31, 2019 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca Last night I had a haunting experience. It was the summer of 1973. And a young Indigenous boy and his little brother, on a fishing expedition together, were sitting in a pool of water up among … Continue reading →

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Miss Teen premieres at Shadow Theatre: game actors, tired script. A review

Posted on January 30, 2019 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca In Miss Teen a strapped, single mother enters her awkward, bookish daughter in a local teen pageant. “It’ll be good practice … for life,” argues Coco brightly, undeterred by Margaret’s reaction, a mixture of appalled and … Continue reading →

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The Cardiac Shadow: where the soul goes under extreme duress. A review.

Posted on January 19, 2019 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca In the theatre, the dim light glints off the barbed wire that separates us from the stage. At the back we can just make out a kind of altar, draped in bulbs. It turns out to … Continue reading →

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