Tag Archives: Freewill Shakespeare Festival

New faces in theatre: behind the scenes with stage manager Isabel Bergquist

Posted on April 29, 2020 by Liz Nicholls

They’re young. They shine brightly. And their talents are already lighting up the Edmonton theatre scene. 12thnight talked to six starry and sought-after up-and-comers, artists whose work, on- and backstage, will have a big impact on theatre here when the … Continue reading →

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Just in time for Will’s birthday, the Freewill Shakespeare Festival has a new artistic director: Dave Horak

Posted on April 21, 2020 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca Many happy returns, Will. True, the 32nd edition of E-town’s outdoor festival in his honour has, alas, been cancelled this summer, postponed till 2021, and for entirely good reasons. But there’s welcome news to be had … Continue reading →

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Freewill Shakespeare Festival reschedules for 2021

Posted on April 7, 2020 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca Alas, one woe doth tread upon another’s heel.… The COVID crisis has claimed another arts victim. Not unexpectedly, the 2020 edition of the Freewill Shakespeare Festival, the Bard’s annual summer foray into Hawrelak Park, has been … Continue reading →

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Welcome back! Act II of the Edmonton theatre season is about to begin

Posted on December 31, 2019 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca I know what you’re thinking — post-festivity regret, punishing resolutions, the sense of finale. But cast off these thoughts: the theatre season isn’t ending. It’s only intermission. And intermission is over. Welcome back; Act II is … Continue reading →

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A strange fairy tale, rescued magically by Time from tragedy: The Winter’s Tale in the park

Posted on July 8, 2019 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca There is a strange magic about a play where brute tragedy gives way to pastoral comedy, realism mixes it up with romance, and dramatic scenes abut presentational vaudeville. The Winter’s Tale has the optical weirdness of … Continue reading →

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Boys will be boys: taking the mickey out of male bonding in Two Gents, a bitter comedy in the park

Posted on July 1, 2019 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca A passing squirrel, who turned his back to the stage, was not convinced. And the wind whispering through the poplars sounded downright skeptical this weekend in the park when a lovestruck young man tore himself away … Continue reading →

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Camping out with Shakespeare in the park: Freewill Shakespeare Festival returns with an intriguing pair of plays

Posted on June 18, 2019 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca “If this be magic, let it be an Art as lawful as eating.” — The Winter’s Tale The actors pull up at rehearsals in shorts on their bikes, dodging geese (mosquitoes, squirrels  and the odd coyote), … Continue reading →

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From story to myth: Lake of the Strangers asks “how do we heal?”

Posted on January 21, 2019 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca In Lake of the Strangers, the solo play that premieres this week at the Backstage Theatre, you’ll meet two Indigenous brothers, 10 and seven, on a mission out in the natural world. “It’s their last summer … Continue reading →

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An exciting new Hamlet for the park: a review

Posted on June 23, 2018 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca “Is not this something more than fantasy?” The guards on duty in Elsinore are talking about a dead king who’s been appearing nightly from behind his official royal portrait. They’re right on another count, too.  Something … Continue reading →

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The world’s a zany, baffling place: The Comedy of Errors in the park

Posted on June 22, 2018 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca At a crucial mistaken-identity moment in The Comedy of Errors — a transaction-gone-askew involving a goldsmith, a chain, and a wayward husband arranging delivery on pricey bling for someone not his wife — a magpie perched … Continue reading →

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