Tag Archives: clown theatre

SWAN? returns home, to the festival where it hatched, to celebrate its hundredth performance

Posted on August 27, 2026 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca SWAN? has flown the world.  Lauren Brady’s dark bouffon/ballet clown comedy has alighted at the world’s biggest fringe festivals, in Edinburgh and Adelaide, twice, and won awards from the High Commission of Canada and the Beaverbrook … Continue reading →

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The clowns from corporate head office are here: GERALD, a Fringe review

Posted on August 20, 2026 by Liz Nicholls

Gerald (Stage 20, Mile Zero Dance Theatre) By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca The outreach department of Gerald Corp, one of the galaxy’s biggest energy companies, has sent two recruiters through space to find us humans. Please stand by. Lucky us! We’ve … Continue reading →

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We’re in it together: some thoughts on Shannan Calcutt’s Things I Shouldn’t Tell You at SkirtsAfire

Posted on March 15, 2026 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca At the next-to-last moment this weekend at this year’s SkirtsAfire Festival I got a chance to see what happens when a premier clown steps bravely forth to share a big grown-up secret. In Things I Shouldn’t … Continue reading →

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The hopes and dreams of a raccoon existentialist: The Shiniest Piece of Trailer Trash, a review

Posted on September 11, 2025 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca “Aww, this is the life! I get to be here, for free!” declares the resourceful, scrappy character we meet in The Shiniest Piece of Trailer Trash. In Meegan Sweet’s imaginative solo show, the staff choice at … Continue reading →

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‘A brief history of colonialism’ by bouffon clowns: strange, unsettling, fascinating Colonial Circus, a Fringe review

Posted on August 20, 2025 by Liz Nicholls

Colonial Circus: History, Clown-Style (Stage 27, Sugar Swing Upstairs) By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca The two bouffon clowns of this strange, fascinating, and unsettling (feel free to use the term “fringe-y”) show, “a brief history of colonialism,” sure know how to … Continue reading →

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The plight of the single, in a couples world: the nutty hilarity of The Lost Sock Rescue Society, a Fringe review

Posted on August 15, 2025 by Liz Nicholls

The Lost Sock Rescue Society (Stage 28, Roots on Whyte) By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca In this nutty and inspired latest from the physical comedy and clown company Small Matters Productions (For Science!, The Spinsters), we’re at a volunteer recruitment session … Continue reading →

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On a journey through the universe: The Space Between Stars headlines SkirtsAfire 2023

Posted on February 28, 2023 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca “You — you alone will have stars as no one else has them.”  — The Little Prince, Saint-Exupéry And the space between them is yours to claim, too, as theatre artist Christine Lesiak has discovered in … Continue reading →

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From the shower into the fray: Underbelly, a Fringe review

Posted on August 16, 2022 by Liz Nicholls

Underbelly (Stage 4, Walterdale Theatre) By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca Some days are like that, don’t you find? What starts gaily with singing in the shower has a way of turning into a day when your monster hat becomes an actual … 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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Got a couple of minutes? catch a film at the Play The Fool International Short (very short) Film Festival

Posted on April 4, 2021 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca Psst.… Wanna have fun, fast, on a blowy pandemic Sunday? I went to an international film festival this morning. And I saw all 12 jury selections, in their entirety, before my second coffee. Surely the world’s … Continue reading →

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