Category Archives: Reviews

Remembering dad: Empire of the Son is an artful memoir of a tempestuous father-son relationship. A review

Posted on February 2, 2018 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca “For a long time I did not like my father,” says the puckish, elegantly moustached figure before us in Empire of the Son. Like? Hmmm.… Who among us hasn’t felt the disconcerting ripple of a thought … Continue reading →

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Where did the time go? Nighty-night at the Slumberland Motel: a review of Collin Doyle’s comedy, premiering at Shadow Theatre

Posted on January 21, 2018 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca What is a salesman but a teller of stories and a purveyor of dreams? Willie Loman knew it. And so does Edward, the more optimistic half of the pair of travelling vacuum cleaner salesmen who find … Continue reading →

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What light through yonder window breaks? Shakespeare’s R & J is back, a 12thnight review

Posted on January 21, 2018 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca Directors with concept envy have always been hot to get their mitts on Romeo and Juliet. And you can see why. The defiance, the crazy courage, the valiance of hot-blooded young lovers up against generational hostilities … Continue reading →

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The sounds of revolution: The Listening Room, a review

Posted on January 21, 2018 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca If there ever was a piece of theatre that owed star billing to the sound designer, it’s Cardiac Theatre’s premiere production of The Listening Room, by Calgary-based Michaela Jefferey. Everything about the premise depends on sound: … Continue reading →

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“Drink harder, dance longer,” fall in love: the hot-blooded rock musical Onegin, a 12thnight review

Posted on January 19, 2018 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca In the opening number of Onegin, a spirited ensemble assembles onstage and offers up the quintessential theatre invocation. “Our dear father up in heaven,” they sing, vodka in hand and eyes cast towards a theatrical firmament … Continue reading →

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In an uncertain world, The Humans takes us home for Thanksgiving dinner: a review of the Citadel/ Canadian Stage production

Posted on January 12, 2018 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca “I wish you had more of a view,” says a mother to her irritated younger daughter in The Humans, surveying the alley from the sole window of a run-down duplex in lower Manhattan. Later in Stephen … Continue reading →

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12thnight goes to Twelfth Night: a review

Posted on January 7, 2018 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca Wonder and confusion, sadness and joy, thread their way through a comedy that’s always catching you a little off-guard, like the post-Christmas (hangover) season of the year itself. So in a way, the built-in contradictions of … Continue reading →

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“The hottest show in town”: the unmissable Burning Bluebeard brings its strange magic back for the holidays

Posted on December 16, 2017 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca It’s playful, it’s dark, it’s magical. Dave Horak’s production of Burning Bluebeard is back on the Roxy stage. And what a strange and wonderful Christmas show it is. You won’t see anything like it anywhere. I … Continue reading →

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Bill and Ted are back in the ’80s, rockin at the Mayfield

Posted on December 14, 2017 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca The scene: Tuesday night, and a packed house at the Mayfield. The last time we met them — hey, last year around this time at the Mayfield —  Bill and Ted were erupting from a time-travelling … Continue reading →

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The Citadel’s A Christmas Carol: a new addition to the Scroogian gallery

Posted on December 12, 2017 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca When a frozen man declares, with some heat, that “Christmas, sir, is a cheat!” you’re in the presence of a Christmas tradition. And there’s magic to it: Ebenezer Scrooge, the poster boy for last-minute heart thaws, … Continue reading →

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