Tag Archives: Backstage Theatre

Survival through laughter, a true-life story: Basic Training at Edmonton Fringe Theatre

Posted on April 17, 2024 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca The 23 characters who we meet at the Fringe’s Backstage Theatre Friday in Basic Training — conjured by a particularly agile playwright/ performer/ comedian — have taken an unusually circuitous route to get here. They’ve crossed … Continue reading →

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Anahita’s Republic: a thriller takes us into the world of Iran and the struggle for women’s rights

Posted on May 17, 2023 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca The thriller that gets its Alberta premiere Friday at the Backstage Theatre takes us to a tense world where “freedom” reverberates at a frequency very different from our own. The disparity between its application to men … Continue reading →

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SOUND OFF, the groundbreaking Deaf theatre fest, dances back for a seventh annual edition

Posted on March 27, 2023 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca Across the country, and the continent, there isn’t anything quite like the groundbreaker of a festival, born in this fair theatre town, that’s back for a seventh annual edition Tuesday. SOUND OFF, Canada’s unique and influential … Continue reading →

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A coming-of-age thriller: Freaky Green Eyes at Fringe Theatre, a review

Posted on January 14, 2023 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca The opening image of Freaky Green Eyes is a girl poised on a diving board, about to take the plunge. In Emma Houghton’s solo show, an artful stage adaptation of Joyce Carol Oates’s 2003 powerfully dark … Continue reading →

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From a big bad dangerous world, to us: Evandalism, a surprising original at Fringe Theatre. A review

Posted on November 20, 2022 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca It wasn’t a promising start to a life: “a little Mexican Indian whose mom and dad didn’t want him.” The guy who stands before us, tattooed and smiling in front of a big magic board, is … Continue reading →

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Trying to ‘do gender right’ through the trans lens: Re:Construct, at RISER

Posted on June 7, 2022 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca Playwright Even Gilchrist was in full producer mode at home one morning last week, making a cake for his new play. The play? Re:Construct, premiering Wednesday at the Backstage Theatre in RISER Edmonton’s 2022 series. The … Continue reading →

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An inheritance in stories: ren & the wake, a new Catch the Keys musical. A review

Posted on May 2, 2022 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca It’s a funny thing, don’t you find, the way memory works. How the past gets unearthed from its subterranean lair in detached moments, a snippet of melody, a smell, the sound of a laugh, a scribble … Continue reading →

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‘That piano arrived in my life for a reason’: Metronome, a new Darrin Hagen solo show premieres at Workshop West

Posted on November 5, 2021 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca “Have you ever tried something new, and instantly thought ‘O! I feel like I’ve been doing this my whole life?’” That’s how Darrin Hagen remembers the exact day when everything changed for the small-town Alberta trailer … Continue reading →

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Sending in the clowns (online): Play The Fool Fest is back

Posted on September 21, 2021 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca Clowns: it takes all kinds. And we have the festival to prove it. At Play the Fool, returning Thursday (online again) for a sixth annual edition, you’ll meet “the world’s first German Nihilist life coach,” for … Continue reading →

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The call of the wild: Night is live ‘drive-by’ theatre from Major Matt Mason

Posted on June 15, 2021 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca Dusk is shading into dark, the break-out time. And the wilderness is encroaching. The solo play that opens late twilight Thursday in Rundle Park invites us into the mind of a person who feels themself straining … Continue reading →

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