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New Reviews	Edinburgh Festival Guide ~ August 20, 2009 Stage Edinburgh ~ August 19, 2009
Claire Smith The Scotsman	Writer and performer Maja Ardal, who has just turned 60, creates one of the most convincing portrayals of a young child I have ever seen on stage. She plays Elsa, a loving and open child, who loves stories, has a fanciful imagination but who desperately wants to be accepted by her peers. The performer, who now lives in Canada, based the work on her own experiences and creates a wonderfully evocative picture of childhood, friendships, family and playground politics.
Fancy News!	Maja Ardal and You Fancy Yourself wins 2009 Dora Award for Outstanding Performance. You Fancy Yourself receives three 2008-2009 Dora Award nominations: Outstanding Production, Outstanding Performance, and Outstanding Direction. Awards night is June 29th. Fancy travels to Festival Antigonish and PEI (Victoria Playhouse) in July. In August Fancy will be performed in Edinburgh at the Festival Fringe at Universal Arts at St. George's West. Fancy will tour in England for Farnham Maltings (outside London) from September 8th-20th. In October it's back to Canada to Stouffville for two performances, and a remount at Theatre Passe Muraille in January 2010. In March Fancy will run for a week in Kelowna, BC. Contrary Company is developing the sequel to Fancy: The Cure for Everything, supported by OAC with a Creators Reserve Grant, through 4th Line Theatre, and Toronto Arts Council, and Canada Council. Contrary Company welcomes its newest member, Lisa Karen Cox.
Bigwin Collective	Bigwin Collective, which involves Contrary Company Members Lisa Cox, Maja Ardal, and Mary Francis working alongside several other theatre women of immgrant descent. They are creating a work about immigration to Canada. Supported by a grant from the Ontario Arts Council they brought Pam Brighton from Belfast to give a workshop in popular political theatre. Her recent work with older Belfast women on the play The Hidden Strength has received great response. Contrary was an associate partner in the June workshop. Bigwin is working in partnership with Theatre Passe Muraille and the local community of Alexandra Park.
Current Reviews	Now Magazine ~ National Post ~ Mooney on Theatre ~ Scene Changes jam.canoe.ca ~ The Globe and Mail ~ The Toronto Star ~ Eye Magazine
Theatre-goers
Playwrights Canada Press	You Fancy Yourself was published by Playwrights Canada Press!
Dennis O'Toole The Examiner	You Fancy Yourself is a one-woman tour de force.
Robin Pittis View Magazine, Hamilton	Maja Ardal is a master of her craft…her performance is powerful, fluid, physical.. She demonstrates that a single seasoned artist can meet the dual objectives of entertainment and enlightenment. This is a feat to be witnessed and relished.
Gary Smith Hamilton Spectator	The pain of growing up as an outsider. The cold wash of despair and ice water thrown over a young child’s vision of the universe are all aquiver in this thrilling piece of theatre. See it if you admire great acting. See it if you appreciate great language that touches the heart and buoys the soul.
NOW Magazine, Toronto	*NNNN Critics' Pick* Maja Ardal's Elsa is a girl with an imagination and dramatic savoir- faire. Sly, certain writing and Ardal's deadly good comic timing make this freshly-told, semi-autobiographical tale of playground politics, Celtic culture and childhood power struggles an entertaining play for everyone. Don't miss Ardal's brilliant work as Elsa's starchy teacher, her prissy nemesis June, and her raggedy best friend, Adelle.
Lyn Slotkin, CBC	Recommended. "A wonderful production."
Jon Kaplan PREVIEW article NOW Magazine	Creating a world with lightning speed inspires actor Maja Ardal. Nearly 20 years ago she played a quartet of roles in Dario Fo and Franca Rame's Female Parts, and I still see her blazing eyes as the child-murdering Medea. In You Fancy Yourself writer/performer Ardal tackles a dozen contrasting types. In this story of quirky adolescence, young immigrant Elsa tries to fit into 50s Edinburgh society where people tend to be suspicious and judgmental. Though she began her career as an actor, Ardal proved her playwriting skills in Midnight Sun produced at the Tarragon. Here she transforms people from her own history. "I couldn't get some childhood characters out of my mind" recalls Ardal whose own experiences parallel some of the fictional Elsa's. "Two years ago I began writing poetic portraits of them. But because I'm a theatre person, I tried them out in front of people and they took on dramatic life. Elsa's world contains fronds (Adelle), and enemies, (ramrod-stiff Miss Campbell) but she sees them through the filter of her Norse imagination. "Elsa lives more in her imaginative world than the real one" says Ardal. "She moves from one unreality to another and when the real world punches her in the face she just invents a new fantasy to survive it. Elsa's imagination enriches the lives of everyone around her, but it causes problems too, when she can't find the balance between fantasy and reality. Trained by the legendary George Luscombe, Ardal loves working in what she calls "empty space', creating characters from nothing. In this piece we meet more than a dozen figures all of whom Ardal invents with her body and voice. "It's all done internally on the strength of belief but I still need an instant physical sketch for the audience. The curious Elsa's chest pushes forward. The quite Adelle's chest pulls back. Shy David MacDonald has tight lips and narrow eyes, while the prim matron Miss Campbell stands with her hands pointed directly towards her vagina."

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