Reviews
“David Leyshon is becoming well known to local audiences, having played prominent roles in ‘Art’ at the beginning of this season and he was the title character in ‘Billy Bishop Goes To War’ last season. There's a reason he keeps getting these parts. (…) clearly he can drink the strongest scripts without cream and sugar. He has a David Schwimmer ability to generate affable awkwardness but also a Richard Dreyfuss ability to portray gutsy human grit. Leyshon gave what was needed to make us all feel alright, somehow, with his daughter Iris bringing home a wet stranger now wearing his bathrobe. He also gave us what we needed to know he was truly disconnected in his marriage but didn't want the last word of the relationship to be "goodbye."
Prince George Citizen, April 2016
Girl In The Gold Fish Bowl
Guys and Dolls
“Vocally, there are stellar moments (…) Mr. Leyshon’s ‘Luck Be a Lady’ is extremely well done.(…) David Leyshon is a mysteriously brooding and slightly dangerous Sky Masterson…”
Inside Looking In Blog, May 2019
David Leyshon also shines (…) as family patriarch James Donnelly. Portrayed as something of a wide-eyed optimist, Leyshon plays a sympathetic figure trying to find redemption in the new world, but who is ultimately unable to escape his old world violent tendencies.
OurLondon.ca, Feb 2017
Vigilante
“They all have their shining moment, all of them leap off the page at times, but Leyshon gets the special advantage (I'm sure it didn't feel like an advantage in rehearsals) of a four-page soliloquy machine-gunned at 100 miles an hour. The audience was whooping halfway through, egging him on, and the room erupted in a roar of applause and whistles when he was done. It was like the theatrical version of a drum solo.
And because he's such a pro, even that, when there's a lot of room for soaking up the response, he plays it straight and sober at all times. They all do.”
PG Citizen, Sept 2015
It’s A Wonderful Life
David Leyshon is superb as George, making you forget you ever saw Jimmy Stewart in the film. Warm, ingratiating, handsome and lovable, he's everything George Bailey ought to be.”
Hamilton Spectator, Dec 2015
“Leyshon carries the biggest load, however, and does it incredibly well, with fine acting, singing and a speaking voice that hints at Jimmy Stewart.”
Star-Phoneix, Nov, 2014
ART
The Music Man
“There is a contagious feeling of excitement filling every nook and cranny of the Thousand Islands Playhouse as its big, bright and beautiful production of Meredith Willson’s “The Music Man” finally takes the stage. […] Much to the delight of audiences of all ilks and ages, its time is now — and it has been well worth the wait. […] Playing Harold Hill, David Leyshon consistently offers that which we would fully expect from a lead protagonist in today’s day and age…”
The Whig, July 2022
“Leyshon’s Antipholus is gentler, more of a laid back daydreamer whose sights become set on Adriana’s sister, Luciana. [...]This cast has beautiful command of Shakespeare’s language, which in this play is filled with delightful word play and colourful insults. Thanks to the deft comic prowess of these actors Shakespeare’s jests still resonate easily and directly to the funny bone for a contemporary audience.”
TWISI Theatre Blog, Oct 2013
The Comedy of Errors
Unnecessary Farce
“David Leyshon is the perfect Fred Gailey, good-looking but not GQ handsome, as earnest and true as new apples in the fall, loving and lovable.”
Local Xpress, Dec 2016
Miracle on 34th Street
Billy Bishop Goes To War
“Theatre North West’s opening night performance of Billy Bishop Goes to War reminded me what truly excellent acting is all about and how magical it can be when it whisks you away to another time and place. Actor David Leyshon in his TNW debut, brilliantly brings to his main character Bishop, and to his 16 other roles, a real sense of who they are. His minor (but delightful) characters come out in little cameos, enough to whet the audience appetite before he whisks them away again, much too soon. Leyshon slips into and sheds off his cast of characters, seamlessly. Like Peter Pan’s shadow put away in a drawer. He has but a service trunk and minimum wardrobe changes and props to accompany character shifts. (He) relies on body language, facial expressions, endless voice range, his spot-on accents – from Parisian purr to British officer’s bark – Scots dialect, Irish lilt, commoner slang to aristocratic crustiness. For each character Leyshon shows distinctive flair, using dramatic and comedic skills to morph one into the other. It’s fascinating to watch him as he brings them all to life on stage within split seconds.”
Prince Geogre Free Press, Sept 2014
“Whomever plays the lead role in this John Gray-written touchstone work must have guts and courage of his own, or the whole production would go down in flames. TNW wisely drafted David Leyshon for the mission. With seven seasons at the Shaw Festival under his belt, twice tapped for the lead in professional productions of ‘It's A Wonderful Life’, and other meaty roles besides, he was able to heft this challenging piece onto his capable shoulders. His delivery is so casual and sleek, he rolls the long script out for the audience like an expert professor delivering a keynote lecture without notes because he has the material so ingrained. While he is usually Billy Bishop, he also kicks into 17 other characters - women, Scots, several Brits, one Irish, etc. - and successfully hopscotches back to Bishop. He also has to utilize body language carefully, with enactments running the gamut from machine guns to feather boas. He is convincingly a female lounge lizard one moment, a murderous sky-killer the next. [Leyshon] delivers one of the greatest monologues in Canadian theatre history. The "Death of Albert Ball" soliloquy is a poetic jaw-dropper in the right hands and Leyshon's are the right hands. His speaking of those lines draws out magnificent darkness and a reverence akin to hearing the commonly recited poems heard at Remembrance Day.
The Prince George Citizen, Sept 2014
“The entire production is stocked with top-notch performances. David Leyshon strikes the perfect balance of charming nice-guy and blubbering fool as Eric Sheridan, the bookish police officer who must manage a partner who’s even more inept than he is.”
lifesablog.ca, August 2016
Run For Your Wife
“[...] the central role of John Smith, here played to perfection by David Leyshon. [...] Leyshon’s portrayal of John as a blithe innocent is already funny. Even funnier are the numerous occasions where he shows us the wheels whirring away in John’s head as he tries to come up with a new lie to cover up a previous one.”
Stage-Door.com, April 2014
”David Leyshon, who plays John Smith, shows great style and technique as he underplays his panic and anxiety at being caught in his own web of lies. His skillfully understated reactions provide a very good contrast to peak moments of the story’s most hilarious moments. Also, his generosity as a performer allows the other actors to shine during their scenes with him.”
Cambridge Citizen, April 2014