Category Archives: Reviews

The siren call of the wild: Beth Graham’s Pretty Goblins, a review

Posted on April 20, 2018 by Liz Nicholls

Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca “Something happened to me today,” says Lizzie in Pretty Goblins. “Something happens to everyone every day,” says her twin sister Laura. There it is, in a nutshell: the hard, maybe irreducible, human mystery at the crux of … Continue reading →

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All Shook Up shakes up the jukebox at the Mayfield: a review

Posted on April 15, 2018 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca Finally. A jukebox musical with an actual jukebox. And it’s busted. Which should tell you something about the sassy, light-hearted self-awareness of All Shook Up, currently at the Mayfield cavorting its way through the Elvis canon … Continue reading →

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“Is it possible I just like sex?” Slut, at Northern Light Theatre: a review

Posted on April 8, 2018 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca S. L. U. T. The funniest set design of the season  — and the only one (to my knowledge) that actually engages in smart-ass repartee with the character onstage — is to be found in the … Continue reading →

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Tense negotiations over tea: Going to St. Ives at the Varscona, a review

Posted on April 7, 2018 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca The negotiations at the heart of Going To St. Ives involve a doctor and a patient, and a hard-fought exchange of favours. They have nothing to do with waiting lists. In this knotty two-hander by American … Continue reading →

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Going Undercover with the crack improvisers of Spontaneous Theatre: a review

Posted on April 6, 2018 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca “I like your thinking,” says the tough-cookie Det. Sergeant (Rebecca Northan), snapping her gum approvingly at the rookie detective from time to time in the course of Undercover. “I like your thinking” is the mantra of … Continue reading →

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Surviving the unsurvivable: the astonishing creation that is Betroffenheit, a review

Posted on March 31, 2018 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca What are you supposed to do with fathomless tragedy? The kind of limitless grief that consumes your mind and melts your bones?  Betroffenheit is about that. In its harrowing and brilliantly executed way, this astonishing dance/theatre … Continue reading →

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Cleave, a sense of possibility in contradiction: a review of Tiny Bear Jaws’ latest

Posted on March 30, 2018 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca No wonder we’re screwed up. We’re looking for definitive clarity and judgment in a language full of unruly verbs —  dust, sanction, screen, bolt, cleave — that contain their own opposites. Cleave: to hold together. Cleave: … Continue reading →

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Can life move forward after great trauma? Poison, a review

Posted on March 18, 2018 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca The unexpected thing about Poison isn’t its intensity. After all, its starting point is unimaginable loss. No, the unexpected thing about Poison, as you’ll see in this stunningly acted Wild Side production directed by Jim Guedo, … Continue reading →

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The theatre of the supernatural: Cat Walsh’s Do This In Memory Of Me, a review

Posted on March 17, 2018 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca Do This In Memory Of Me, a strange and captivating new coming-of-age comedy by Cat Walsh, takes us into the richly decorated, permeable mind of a highly imaginative 12-year-old Catholic girl.  Geneviève’s is a mind with … Continue reading →

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The fun of Oy-rish charm: Outside Mullingar, a review

Posted on March 16, 2018 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca The fabled Irish countryside connection between man and The Land has a kind of crackpot quirkiness in this charmingly wispy 2014 Oy-rish rom-com by the redoubtable American playwright John Patrick Shanley, of Moonstruck and Doubt fame. … Continue reading →

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