Category Archives: Reviews

Unleashing girl power: Dance Nation at SkirtsAfire, a review

Posted on March 11, 2025 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca Smarten up, world. That way you have of underestimating, sidelining, denying even, the sheer visceral power of pre-teen girls means you’re missing out, world. There’s a play now running at the SkirtsAfire Festival that’s all about … Continue reading →

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‘I have had a most rare vision’. A Midsummer Night’s Dream: The 70s Musical at the Citadel, a review

Posted on March 9, 2025 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca “Welcome mortals!” declares the wandering “knavish sprite” in the glittering red jumpsuit (Luc Tellier as Puck) who bounds aerobically through the crowd on fabulous Fluevog platforms, with an orange mullet that makes other mullets look apologetic. … Continue reading →

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Party time in 19th century Russia: Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812 at MacEwan

Posted on February 16, 2025 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca A black box theatre at MacEwan University (the Tim Ryan Theatre Lab) has been transformed into a red and black Russian cabaret — overhung with velvet  draperies, twinkling lights, a glittering chandelier, imperial insignia of the … Continue reading →

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Bummed out in Buffalo: will they? won’t they? The struggles of the blue-collar male in The Full Monty at the Mayfield, a review

Posted on February 9, 2025 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca The guys we meet in The Full Monty are up against it. They’re unemployed steel workers in rustbelt Buffalo. And, as one points out, in the opening musical number “it’s a long night when you’re scrap…. … Continue reading →

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Two sisters and a snowman: Frozen will thaw your cold cold heart, a review

Posted on February 7, 2025 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca There’s a moment in Disney’s Frozen the Broadway Musical, just before intermission, when you just can’t help cheering the liveness of a musical that challenges itself to bring to the stage one of Disney Corp’s hottest … Continue reading →

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Is theatre itself a form of hypnosis? An Oak Tree at Theatre Yes, a review

Posted on February 6, 2025 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca At the Aviary, a little performance space off the beaten track that’s nobody’s idea of a conventional theatre (except there’s a bar), something weird is happening. It’s magic and you have to be there to experience … Continue reading →

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War as the human constant through time: After The Trojan Women, a review

Posted on February 3, 2025 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca The centrepiece of the stage is a gory altarpiece that looks a red tree upended, or maybe a giant artery wrenched out by its roots. Alison Yanota’s striking design for After The Trojan Women cuts to … Continue reading →

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Portrait of a men’s movement recruit: Angry Alan at Northern Light, a review

Posted on January 26, 2025 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca There are so many reasons to dismiss a guy like Roger, the protagonist of Angry Alan, a smart, surprising little stinger of a play, and the latest in Northern Light Theatre’s ‘Making A Monster’ season. I … Continue reading →

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Mapping the frontier of empathy: Bea at Shadow Theatre, a review

Posted on January 25, 2025 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca The Varscona stage is dominated by a bed. And in the opening moments of Bea, we see a young girl using it the time-honoured kid way — bouncing on and off it, dancing, singing along with … Continue reading →

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The improbable magic of theatre (as discovered by goblins) in Goblin: Macbeth. A review.

Posted on January 23, 2025 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca Three striking, masked figures — pointy ears, black topcoats — stride through the Citadel box office lobby from … the Lee Pavilion? the parking lot? the cosmos? And they instinctively know how to gather an audience … Continue reading →

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