Category Archives: Reviews

The quest to be a warrior: an Indigenous story gets a powerful telling in Redpatch. A review.

Posted on November 2, 2018 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca In the striking opening moments of Redpatch a masked prophet in a pyramid of light asks “what is life?” and then vanishes into mist. It’s a question with legs (and vast reservoirs of imaginative and aerobic … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on The quest to be a warrior: an Indigenous story gets a powerful telling in Redpatch. A review.

I sing of Pretenderos, land of plot complications. The return of Die-Nasty to a lawless land

Posted on November 1, 2018 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca Trolls? You want trolls? How about a dragon? “I’ll make it happen,” says a portentous rumbling voice from the dark. “This is a world with No Rules.” Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world.  Welcome to … Continue reading →

Posted in Features, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on I sing of Pretenderos, land of plot complications. The return of Die-Nasty to a lawless land

Theatre takes to the trenches: Neil Grahn’s The Comedy Company. A review

Posted on October 26, 2018 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca “And make it funny!” barks the Major at the soldier.    And so it starts, the remarkable true Canadian story that comes to life in Neil Grahn’s The Comedy Company. The new play by a writer … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Theatre takes to the trenches: Neil Grahn’s The Comedy Company. A review

Defy gravity at your peril: Dead Centre Of Town XI at Fort Edmonton

Posted on October 22, 2018 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca The principle of “what goes up must come down” as applied to air travel isn’t an entirely comforting thought. Defying gravity might have been a blast for Peter Pan but, trust me, it doesn’t always work … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Defy gravity at your peril: Dead Centre Of Town XI at Fort Edmonton

“Thicker than water and stronger than bone”: twin performances in Blood: A Scientific Romance at The Maggie Tree. A review.

Posted on October 21, 2018 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca At the beating heart of Meg Braem’s intricate Blood: A Scientific Romance are twin sisters whose mysterious bond is an elixir of life. Beyond empathy, beyond heredity, beyond biology, Angelique and Poubelle seem to be joined at … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on “Thicker than water and stronger than bone”: twin performances in Blood: A Scientific Romance at The Maggie Tree. A review.

A great leap forward, by excavating the past: Origin of the Species opens the NLT season. A review.

Posted on October 15, 2018 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca Archaeology, says an elderly member of that profession in Origin of the Species, is “simply knowing where to look.” It would seem to have that at least in common with theatre, judging by the mysterious discoveries … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on A great leap forward, by excavating the past: Origin of the Species opens the NLT season. A review.

A mission to defeat time: Jezebel, At The Still Point. A review

Posted on October 13, 2018 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca It beings with an explosion somewhere in the galaxy, a crash landing, smoke, red emergency lights, a siren.  Matt Schuurman’s video design, spread across jagged meteor fragments amid showers of light (by Elise Jason) is, quite … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on A mission to defeat time: Jezebel, At The Still Point. A review

As fizzy as champagne: Skirts On Fire at Teatro La Quindicina, a review

Posted on September 29, 2018 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca There is a crucial moment in screwball comedies when someone sensible, someone with a placid, routine, predictable existence, finds himself having another sort of life altogether — for no reason he can quite put a finger … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on As fizzy as champagne: Skirts On Fire at Teatro La Quindicina, a review

Falling slowly for Once: a low-key musical fairy-tale opens the Citadel season. A review

Posted on September 28, 2018 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca “I pay you with music,” says the fairy godmother to the despondent troubadour in Once. And lo and behold, making music is the ultimate fairy elixir: it can transform you from half-dead to fully alive, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Falling slowly for Once: a low-key musical fairy-tale opens the Citadel season. A review

Thou Art Where? A roving production of Shakespeare’s Will in a cemetery, a review

Posted on September 24, 2018 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca Thou Art Here!, a company that does Shakespeare meet-and-greets in unexpected locations, takes us to a graveyard. It’s dusk. Five ghostly women appear through the trees in the distance and come towards us. As the daylight … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Thou Art Where? A roving production of Shakespeare’s Will in a cemetery, a review