REVIEWS
"Amelia Sargisson and Christo Graham make a terrific Rosencrantz and Guildenstern." — Aisling Murphy, Intermission Magazine
"There are some wonderful surprises in this production. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern (Amelia Sargisson and Christo Graham) make a wonderfully nimble, comic double act — all fun and cartwheels until their childhood friend understands how they've been sent to spy on him." — Glenn Sumi, So Sumi
“Both Christo Graham as Guildenstern and Amelia Sargisson as Rosencrantz are terrific… the epitome of youthful enthusiasm, and their playful high jinks are refreshing amid the doom and gloom. The actors also shine in their other roles — Graham as a pompously silly Osric and Sargisson as the comic Gravedigger.” — Paula Citron, Ludwig Van Toronto
"One of the great delights of the production is that there are hints, especially when she's crossed, that Amelia Sargisson's utterly charming but flinty Gwendolyn ("I am never wrong"), in a first-rate comic performance, is her mother's daughter. They have matching day timers that snap shut like alligator jaws." — Liz Nicholls, 12th Night
"Another source of comic relief is Jack's scatterbrained fiancée, Gwendolyn Fairfax (Amelia Sargisson). She strikes comedic gold." — Sarah Dussome, Broadway World
"Valère is fearless to all but the Princess Conti, a commanding Amelia Sargisson. She mixes charm with royal prerogative." — Lynn Slotkin, The Slotkin Letter
"Sargisson's Princess is...a powerful steel magnolia indeed." — Paula Citron, Ludwig Van Toronto
"...this frame...allows Sargisson to shine in the first in a number of memorable roles, including progressive young actor Betty and Aldridge's exhausted first wife, Margaret." — Karen Fricker, The Toronto Star
“Louis is a layered Aldridge – charisma caked over insecurity – and surrounded by vivid, playful sketches by others, especially Sargisson as a series of underwritten women.”
— J. Kelly Nestruck, The Globe and Mail
"Sargisson and Maharjan find an enjoyable contrast between, respectively, Ginger’s wacky enthusiasm and Nog’s deadpan fastidiousness." — Jim Burke, The Montreal Gazette
"As Eve, Sargisson finds all the heartbreak and humour in her journey from naiveté to knowledge." — Kelly Nestruck, The Globe and Mail
"Qasim Khan and Amelia Sargisson as Adam and Eve [are] a wonderful double act that’s both funny and touching." — Jim Burke, The Montreal Gazette
"Adam and Eve, played by Amelia Sargisson and Qasim Khan, are an excellent pair. Sargisson plays [Eve] with radiance and humanity. We understand Eve’s reasoning, her need for independence from Adam, her desire to be thought of as more than just ‘beautiful.’" — Shannon Carranco, The Suburban
"Sargisson gives Desdemona dignity and, more important, unusual heft. After seeing her, you will never be tempted to think of Desdemona as a passive victim." — Susan G. Cole, NOW Magazine
"Adrianna’s sister Luciana (a very funny Amelia Sargisson) is shocked and then titillated by her brother-in-law suddenly coming on to her." — Kelly Nestruck, The Globe and Mail
"Other delights like the intriguing, flirtatious scenes between Antipholus of Syracuse (Jessica B. Hill) and Adriana’s sister Luciana (Amelia Sargisson) keep the audience buzzing with apprehension." — Geoff Dale, The Stratford Beacon Herald
"Amelia Sargisson plays Constanza, Mozart’s wife… a lovely, varied, charming performance of a complex character." — Lynn Slotkin, Slotkin Letter
"Amelia Sargisson’s mysterious German spy hits the right note of silliness and smoky celluloid magic." — Jim Burke, The Montreal Gazette
"Amelia Sargisson demonstrates that a performance can be equal parts sultry and goofy." — Walter J. Lyng, The Suburban
"A wonderful Amelia Sargisson does her own gender-swap by wearing a man’s armour and yielding a sword to lead her French army back to England, freeing another previously unseen side to her Cordelia." — Carly Maga, The Toronto Star
"The comedic half of Canadian Stage’s annual Shakespearean doubleheader in High Park provides good fun and a standout performance from Amelia Sargisson as the lovelorn, cross-dressing Viola. Sargisson has a rare quality of clarity in her voice, presence and movement: she invites the audience into her exciting and confusing emotional journey." — Karen Fricker, The Toronto Star
"Sargisson and Cox-O'Connell have fun chemistry as the play's villain and his smaller henchman." — Carly Maga, The Toronto Star
"Soutar's cast is tremendous, all of them playing multiple roles. Sargisson and Paul show impressive range, evoking their kid characters and various adults with precision." — Susan G. Cole, NOW Magazine
"Sargisson is also superb as a deeply worried ELA researcher (her departure leaves a hole in the play)." — Robert Cushman, The National Post
"As Ella and Beatrice, a charmingly rambunctious Sargisson and Paul make us forget they're adults playing little girls." — Martin Morrow, The Globe and Mail
"Sargisson has the show's finest scene, in which Chelsea recites a poem she's written about her twisted, complex feelings." — Jon Kaplan, NOW Magazine
“Amelia Sargisson is outstanding as Philomela, making full use of the self-consciously literary material, taking us through her highs and lows.” — Pat Donelly, The Montreal Gazette
“James Wallis and Amelia Sargisson are standouts in the key roles, vividly gulled into admitting their love for each other.” — Jon Kaplan, NOW Magazine
"There’s also good work by Amelia Sargisson as Elizabeth. The verbal tussle between Elizabeth and Richard in the second act is one of the production’s best moments. Sargisson knows how to handle the language and also create a character with sure strokes." — Jon Kaplan and Glenn Sumi, NOW
"As Laurel, Amelia Sargisson’s evolution from frightened and pouting adolescent to virago was developed so well that she had tragic stature by the finale." — Anna Fuerstenberg, Rover Arts
"Amelia Sargisson’s doctor/Walmart employee stands out in the fine cast." — Glenn Sumi, NOW
"Amelia Sargisson was a blast as Caliban, the half-human creature dwelling on the island, and tore through the part with abandon. Savage and unrestrained, half-drunk and half-crazy, Sargisson’s Caliban perfectly embodied the wildness of the enchanted isle." — Neil Boyce, Montreal Mirror
BIO
Amelia is a bilingual actor and theatre-maker who has performed on stages across Canada as well as in the US and as far as Japan.
Favourite theatre credits include: Paradise Lost, The Front Page, The Comedy of Errors, and Hamlet 911 (Stratford); Red Velvet, Seeds, and The Watershed (Crow’s); The 39 Steps, All I Want For Christmas, The Madonna Painter, and The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (Centaur); The Importance of Being Earnest (Citadel Theatre); La Bête and Amadeus (Talk Is Free); Hamlet, Twelfth Night and King Lear (Canadian Stage); The Wolves, If We Were Birds and down from heaven (Cartes Premières Award for Best Actress) (Imago); Tender Napalm, The Innocents, and The Art of Catching Pigeons by Torchlight (Spotlight Award) (SummerWorks); and six seasons of Shakespeare-in-the-Park (Repercussion). TV credits include: The Boys (Amazon Prime), See (Apple TV+), and Murdoch Mysteries (CBC).
Amelia’s writing credits include co-creating, with Jordan Tannahill, The Art of Catching Pigeons by Torchlight, for which they won the 2009 SummerWorks Spotlight Award, and co-writing, with nisha ahuja, 30 People Watching, in which she and nisha also co-starred in the “gruesome but also strangely lyrical” 2014 première directed by Mark Cassidy (Jon Kaplan, NOW). The play went on to be published in ReView: an anthology of plays committed to social justice (ed. Julia Gray, Sense Publishers), which was nominated in 2017 for the Canadian Association of Theatre Research Patrick O'Neill Award. Amelia was a member of the inaugural Playwright’s Unit at Storefront Theatre and co-created with CORPUS a physical theatre/dance piece for all ages, Camping Royale, which she toured with the company through Canada, the US and Japan.
Amelia is currently working on two new plays, Bloodshot and Fer Shame. Bloodshot is the story of a young woman obsessively probing her ancestral sources of creativity and pain even as she struggles to keep afloat in the present. It was workshopped in January 2019 with the support of a Toronto Arts’ Council grant and an all-star cast comprising Raoul Bhaneja, Sarah McVie, Michael Spencer-Davis, and Katherine Gauthier, helmed by director/dramaturg Tanja Jacobs. In the spring of 2021, Bloodshot received another workshop through the generous support of Talk Is Free Theatre. Fer Shame is a solo show about fecking up, starting fresh, and re-membering who you are. It received dramaturgical support from Rose Plotek at Centaur Theatre, where Amelia performed an excerpt in the inaugural online Catalyst Festival in January 2021. Amelia revisited the piece in the Spring of 2022 through a writing residency at Talk Is Free Theatre. Amelia’s writing has also appeared in the ezines Intermission and Diaspora Dialogues.
Amelia has narrated several audiobooks for Penguin Random House and works regularly as a mentoring artist at the National Theatre School. She is the co-creator of two programs for fostering more communicative and compassionate collaborative spaces: ARCS, the Authentic and Radically Curious Support, and Two-Way Mentorship.
When she's not trying to make art, Amelia’s likely in the great outdoors: paddling, hiking, running, cycling, hitting the slopes in her Elan skis, or climbing tall structures at the park with her 5 year-old niece and love of her life, Dylan Tammi Lee.
