Tag Archives: Varscona Theatre

The moment for a screwball comedy and a take-charge heroine: Teatro Live! revives On The Banks Of The Nut, a preview

Posted on May 29, 2025 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca Have you lost your sense of fun? If it’s crossed your mind lately to wonder how on earth everything has turned out much worse that you ever imagined, it might just be the moment for a … Continue reading →

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Shadow Theatre announces a four-show upcoming season, launched by a new Canadian musical

Posted on May 6, 2025 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca Shadow Theatre’s upcoming four-production 32nd season will launch with the premiere of a much-anticipated new Canadian musical. In Morningside Road, by the remarkably versatile Edmonton artists Mhairi Berg (book) and Simon Abbott (music), a girl connects … Continue reading →

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Family secrets and country air: Where You Are at Shadow, a review

Posted on May 3, 2025 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca There’s no shortage of funny one-liners in Where You Are. And a lot of them happen in the opening scenes of the carefully constructed 2019 comedy by the Canadian playwright Kristen Da Silva. We meet two … Continue reading →

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A 10-year Marv n’ Berry retrospective at the Varscona

Posted on April 8, 2025 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca Where do hit sketch comedy troupes come from anyhow? Ten years ago, the once-upon-a time of the Marv n’ Berry story, five improvisers found themselves hanging out, onstage and off-, at the Bonfire Festival. They were … Continue reading →

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Artists need champions: After Mourning – Before Van Gogh at Shadow Theatre. A review.

Posted on March 22, 2025 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca After Mourning – Before Van Gogh, a new play by Michael Czuba  premiering in the Shadow Theatre season, sets itself a fascinating challenge. It takes us behind the thick paint, the distinctive brushstrokes, the glowing light and … Continue reading →

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From the shadows of history into light: Michael Czuba’s After Mourning – Before Van Gogh premieres at Shadow Theatre

Posted on March 18, 2025 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca “I have never heard of her…. This has to be a play.” That’s the thought, inspired by the History Channel series Raiders of the Lost Art, that piqued the curiosity of playwright Michael Czuba in 2018. … Continue reading →

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Teatro Live introduces a younger generation of stars (and Hungarian street snacks) in The Noon Witch. Meet Eli Yaschuk.

Posted on February 14, 2025 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca Thirty years ago, Teatro La Quindicina audiences caught sight of a highly idiosyncratic witch who preferred sunlight to night time, and lured men to their watery death with caloric fatty snacks so they sink. Playwright Stewart … 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 theatre of big questions: playwright Mick Gordon talks about Bea, his most produced play, in this preview

Posted on January 24, 2025 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz NIcholls, 12thnight.ca “Death,” says the pleasant Irish voice on the phone from across the Atlantic, “is the great unifier.” The voice belongs to the much-awarded Northern Ireland writer/director Mick Gordon, whose his most-performed play Bea is now running … Continue reading →

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Intermission’s over, take your seats: Act II of the theatre season is about to begin (prospects to intrigue you).

Posted on January 3, 2025 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca Wait…. There’s more. Act II of the theatre season is about to begin. And rehearsals are underway all over town. Goblin: Macbeth, a Spontaneous Theatre Creation, starts previews next week in the Citadel’s Highwire Series. How … Continue reading →

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