Here's a romantic Saturday night outing for you: To honour the 30th anniversary of everyone’s fave fairy tale flick, the Phi Centre is screening The Princess Bride Saturday night for their Cinema Cabaret. If Buttercup and Wesley have you wanting to dance, then head over to MainLine Theatre for a Summer Slowdance Night. If you're still up for adventure, there is a music show, the latest the NVA Off-Site, just up the street at Cinema l’amour.
By the numbers: 100% Montreal attempts to dissect the city through the eyes of its people. Organizers invited 100 Montrealers, of all ages, race and religious persuasions - but none of them professional performers - to the stage at Place des Arts for a live documentary theatre show. This is an event pioneered by a German theatre collective called Rimini Protokoll. They haved toured the concept in 30 cities all over the world, from Berlin to Melbourne. One of the organizers, Helgard Haud, told me that was struck her about the Montreal show is that our citizens are funny, and we don’t sweat the small stuff (except when it maybe comes to language). The show is all weekend at Theatre Jean Duceppe as part of the Festival TransAmériques.
Need to laugh, and stretch? There is a bilingual yoga laughter workshop in the Plateau Saturday night, hosted by Albert Nerenberg, Montreal laughologist.
The little land of sand with no water access opens up for the season on Saturday in the Old Port: the Clock Tower Beach will be open only on the weekends until June 16, when you can go every single day if you'd like. It'll cost you a toonie to get in, or $15 or season access.
La bohème, at a football stadium? Ah, Puccini under the stars! His opera about disease-ridden bohemian artists is being simulcast live at the Molson Stadium Saturday, rain or shine. It’s free! You just have to reserve.
Montreal Museum Day is Sunday... it’s free to go to 43 different institutions, from the Redpath to the McCord to the use de la Mode. For the 375th, they’re doing a ‘Once Upon a Time’ Rally, where each museum has trotted out an unusual item from their collections that has to do with Montreal. As usual, there are free bus shuttles, and since it's the last Sunday of the month, Bixi is free too!
Speaking of history, the annual Walk to the Rock is on Sunday in Pointe-Saint-Charles. Organized the Ancient Order of Hibernians, the mass and walk pays tribute to the thousands who came to Montreal to seek a better life in 1847 - only to succumb to typhus on the city's shores. Many were Irish immigrants fleeing the Great Famine. The Donovan King is among the organizers; he spoke to Andrew Carter Friday morning about concerns that a long-planned-for memorial park might never be.
It’s the Great Gardening Weekend at the Botanical Gardens! There will gardening workshops and exhibitors...plus you can see the Montréal coneflower! It's a flower bred in Quebec, ranging in colour from pink to orange, and it's your city’s official flower.
The Comic Book Festival is on... learn to draw, or just meet your favourite cartoonist at Lafontaine Park on Saturday and Sunday.
Curious about anarchism? The Anarchist Book Fair returns Saturday and Sunday to Little Burgundy (at the CEDA and CCGV buildings at Parc Vinet). There will be workshops, art exhibits… and activities for kids!
And in the world of burlesque: The Wiggle Room has a Quentin Tarantino tribute night on Saturday, and if you’re in the market for some pasties and glitter – they are holding a Garage Sale and Treasure Hunt on Sunday!
And please tune in (as you always do) this Sunday morning, when I join Dan Laxer and the crew at The Trivia Show!
And if you read this far hoping to find out about the Fessetival and the search for 375 bums, click here.