Last call for Montréal Complètement Cirque with a range of free and ticketed circus arts shows from Québec and around the world. The festival is spread out over different venues. At Espace St-Denis, you can check out two hit shows returning to the fest: Cirque Alphonse’s joyful roller-skating neo-trad Barbu (one of my favourite shows, ever) and Briefs Factory’s Dirty Laundry, a grown-up mix of Aussie mix of circus, burlesque and dance. Drag queen Barbada returns as guest MC, sprinkling in local flavour and comedy. At La Tohu, check out Aussie company Circa’s captivating rendition of Swan Lake: Duck Pond is a ballet-like telling of this ancient tale, with a good dose of humour and many elegant, breathtaking moments. There is also free programming at La Tohu and downtown at the Quartier Latin. The festival runs until Sunday.
Festival Nuits d’Afrique follows on the heels of the Jazz Fest with an energetic program of music from Africa, the Caribbean, the Middle East and beyond. Over 700 artists from over 30 countries will perform free and ticketed shows indoors and out, like Bologna-based band Rumba de Bodas, which fuses ska and Afrobeat with a Latin twist, at Club Balattou on Sunday, 8:30pm.
Italy presents “Feast of Emotions” at the Feux-Loto Quebec, with all the components manufactured in Mexico. La Ronde on Sunday, 10pm.
Ellen David directs Canadian writer Kristen Da Silva’s Where You Are, a play about family secrets opening this week at Hudson Village Theatre. Suzanne and Glenda are two sisters living comfortably in semi-retirement in idyllic Manitoulin Island. But a visit from Suzanne’s daughter Beth brings a family secret to the surface that they must all reckon with. Real-life mother and daughter Jane Wheeler and Jenna Wheeler-Hughes play Suzanne and Beth, with Nadia Verucci as Glenda. Until July 21.
Repercussion Theatre has just launched its summer tour of Shakespeare in the Park. Infinite Variety is a new play that riffs on the existential challenges facing artists and theatremakers, from climate to budget. True to its title, the show borrows from the variety show format with music and elements of circus. This weekend, catch the show Friday Baie-d'Urfé’s Fritz Park, Saturday at Stanstead’s Stone Circle and Sunday at North Hatley’s River Park. Until August 3.
Ziv Przytyk’s neo-vaudeville Shazamfest is back for its 19th season of music, circus, burlesque and beard competitions in the woods of the Eastern Townships. Held on the founder’s family farm, Shazamfest welcomes families and patrons of all ages. Join for the day, or stay overnight at the campsite. Until Sunday.
Celebration and community support will be the themes of Spice Island Cultural Festival, which is both marking the 50th anniversary of Grenada's independence and also raising awareness and funds to help the Caribbean country recover from the devastation of Hurricane Beryl. Vinet Park in Little Burgundy will host music, food and fun on Saturday and Sunday, 1 to 9pm. Please consider bringing money and non-perishables food to help with hurricane relief.
The 8th summer season of Film Noir sur le Canal begins with Billy Wilder’s 1944 flick Double Indemnity. The screening starts at sundown, preceded by a performance by the Ukulélé Club de Montréal and a film lecture. Sunday, 7:30pm at Square Saint-Patrick along the Lachine Canal.
Friday’s music picks: Chris Lake plays Off Piknic on Parc Jean Drapeau, 4pm. Ben Howard at MTelus, 8pm. Shane Murphy at Le Studio TD, 8pm.
Actor and comic Daniel Woodrow headlines at The Comedy Nest, with talent like Rodney Ramsey, Rachelle Elie, Jackie Joy and more. Friday and Saturday, 8 and 10:30pm.
Egyptian comedian Mohamed Helmy has added a second 6pm gig to his sold-out Arabic-language show, Globally Local, on Saturday at Salle Claude-Léveillée.
Montreal Improv in St Henri hosts a medley of shows, including Once and Floral: Midsummer Edition, which uses the Pretty Flower format to spin stories, Friday at 9:30pm.
At burlesque headquarters The Wiggle Room, host and owner Frenchy Jones presents two soirées: Leather, Lace & Latex: A Fetish Burlesque Revue, Friday 9pm with Minx Arcana, Enshantay, Tristan Ginger, Madrose. Performers Sucre à la Crème, Cat Zaddy, Olivia Killyjoy, Célesta O’Lee and Charli Devillehit the stage for the 1920s homage, Gatsby, Saturday, 9pm. And on Sunday, 7:30pm on The Lucy Show elevates women, gay and nonbinary comics and burlesque dancers, like Merry Kringles and Flame Fatal.
ONGOING EVENTS
Massive, summer-long ceramics event 1001 Pots continues this weekend! Browse a selection of works by ceramicists across the province, and check out art installations and demonstration. The Potters' Olympics competition takes place Saturday. At 2435 de l'Église in Val-David in the Laurentians, on weekends until August 18.
Waitress The Musical is the French-language premiere of the sweet-as-pie movie and very successful, Tony-nominated stage show. Marie-Eve Janvier stars as Jenna, a waitress in a small town who is in a loveless marriage and has given up on her dreams. With help from fellow servers (Julie Ringuette and Sharon James) and friends, she re-ignites her passion for pastry! Hit singer-songwriter Sara Bareilles penned the music and lyrics, and Jessie Nelson wrote the book. Until July 28 at Espace St Denis.
The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts’s latest show Saints, Sinners and Fools, a massive exhibit tracing three centuries of Flemish masterworks, including pieces by Rubens and van Dyck. You can also check out an exhibit on pop art and Japanese artist Hiroshige’s landscapes.
The McCord-Stewart Museum would also provide respite from the rainy weather: check out two new photography shows: a retrospective of the work of inventive, playful celebrity photo Norman Parkinson and Portraits and Fashion, a collection of iconic images captured by Quebec fashion photographers like Norman Jean Roy and Andréanne Gauthier.
Normand Brathwaite’s New Orleans Blues is a live concert in homage to the Crescent City’s famously musical French Quarter, anchored by immersive projections and a Cajun menu designed by Chef Paul Toussaint. Until September 1 at the Studio-Cabaret at Espace St Denis.
Cirque du soleil’s steampunk extravaganza Kurios: Cabinet of Curiosities is back! Step into the Seeker’s wondrous, funny world, filled with contortionists and acrobats! Kurios is at the Big Top in Old Montreal until August 25.
Take a walk downtown to look out for 15 giant pink sculptures! Le Mignonisme is a series of sculptures known as Monsieur Rose, from the mind of artist Philippe Katerine. You’ll find them along an art walk downtown, including the Quartier des Spectacles and Place des Arts to the Esplanade PVM at Place Ville Marie and Phillips Square. Until September 29.
At the Botanical Gardens, the daylilies, coneflowers and astilbes are starting to bloom. Check out the other blooms of the week here. And check out Telling Our Story - The Territory, a photo and sound exhibit profiling the province’s 11 Indigenous communities, on now at the First Nations Garden.
Nearby, the Montreal Planetarium’s new show imagines what human life could like on Mars.. in 2100! With help from NASA aerospace engineer Farah Alibay and celebrated troupe Cirque Éloize, ROUGE 2100 explores the environment of the red planet as well as what astronauts would need to survive. You’ll have the A-I bot Felicity 87, to take you through the immersive exhibit.
Pointe-À-Callière Museum has launched a first-in-Canada show, Olmecs and the Civilizations of the Gulf of Mexico Explore 4,000 years of Olmec history through nearly 300 objects, some of which will be seen for the first time by the public. What’s fascinating is that traces of the Olmecs were not really “discovered” until the 1800s. This show, a collaboration with Mexico’s Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, runs until September 15.