Category Archives: Reviews

The weird world of WASP: A 2thnight Fringe guest review by Todd Babiak

Posted on August 18, 2018 by Liz Nicholls

WASP (Stage 5, King Edward Elementary School) By Todd Babiak The white protestant family has a lot to answer for and much of it is on display in WASP, Steve Martin’s 1990s take on the 1950s. Dad is cruel, sexist, … Continue reading →

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A dark night of the soul on the 24-hour news cycle. Tragedy: A Tragedy. A Fringe review

Posted on August 17, 2018 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca Tragedy: A Tragedy (Stage 3, Walterdale Theatre The title’s a tip-off — and media types should permit themselves a little wince of apprehension. Yup, they take it in the neck in the sharp and funny parody … Continue reading →

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Breaking the rules of love, Red Bastard: Lie With Me. A guest 12thnight Fringe review by Todd Babiak

Posted on August 17, 2018 by Liz Nicholls

Red Bastard: Lie With Me (Stage 11, Nordic Studio Theatre) The Red Bastard is a white-faced, red-eyed beast in a unitard with a balloon-stuffed midriff. He jumps, dances, slurps, spins, shouts, cackles, and snorts across the stage trying to understand … Continue reading →

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The Tudor period: heads of state in wigs. 2 Queens & A Joker: A Fringe review

Posted on August 17, 2018 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca 2 Queens & A Joker (Stage 17, The Roxy on Gateway) It’s been a while (OK, a decade) since Guys in Disguise, those flamboyant cultural historians, applied themselves to the Tudor period, famous for its strong … Continue reading →

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The appropriation dance: Whiteface. A Fringe review

Posted on August 17, 2018 by Liz Nicholls

Whiteface (Stage 4, Academy at King Edward) By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca “Is there a way out? Does anybody know a way out?” The masked figures trapped onstage are increasingly frantic. No suggestions are forthcoming. Masks are the chief theatrical device, … Continue reading →

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Experiment with this one: For Science! A guest Fringe review by Alan Kellogg

Posted on August 17, 2018 by Liz Nicholls

For Science! (Stage 3, Walterdale Theatre) There’s pretty big fun in this big science show via playwright Christine Lesiak. As we walk in, with dance-mix classics on the box (there is a link near the joy-induced finale of the show), … Continue reading →

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Shopping at Barbra’s place: Buyer & Cellar. A Fringe review

Posted on August 16, 2018 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca Buyer & Cellar, Stage 10 (Acacia Hall) It can’t possibly be true. And yet it is. Yes, Barbra Streisand, mega-star celebrity and über-shopper, does have an entire mall in her basement. That’s the bizarre, open-for-satire, real-life … Continue reading →

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“Not just prepared but Miss Katelyn-prepared!”: Tiny Bear Jaws takes us to readiness school. A review

Posted on July 20, 2018 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca It’s been a banner year or five for traumatizing apocalyptic anxiety. It’s nerve-wracking and exhausting to be in a perpetual state of red-alert, barely suppressed. On the other hand, who can call it outlandish paranoid fantasy … Continue reading →

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The importance of being Oscar: a comic masterwork finds a home at Teatro La Quindicina: a review

Posted on July 13, 2018 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca It has been called the most perfectly constructed comedy in English theatre. And it’s certainly one of the funniest. Funny, then, how The Importance of Being Earnest is full of serious people. That’s the hard, crucial … Continue reading →

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Nostalgia for a lost age: Forever Plaid at the Mayfield, a review

Posted on June 26, 2018 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca In their one review ever, in The Wiltsburg Times Chronicle, a nameless writer delivered the opinion that The Plaids’ sound “is to modern music what Formica is to marble.” It is a measure of their infinite … Continue reading →

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