By AMY ALLEN AND MATT HARRISON
Ways of Something
“When the camera reproduces a painting, it destroys the uniqueness of its image. As a result its meaning changes. Or, more exactly, its meaning multiplies, fragments into many meanings.” — John Berger, 1972, Ways of Seeing
More than four decades later, Berger’s observations — taken from his iconic four-part BBC mini-series, Ways of Seeing — is being reexamined by Canadian and other international artists: 110 of them, to be exact. Culled together by Toronto-based artist Lorna Mills, her mammoth art project, Ways of Something, will present video, 3D renderings, animated gifs, live web cams, and digitally manipulated visuals in the context of the 21st century (hence the Lana Del Rey collage), along with Berger’s original narrative and voiceover, in an effort to ask the question: is Berger’s ground-breaking 20th century presentation still relevant in the 21st century? Find out this Thursday, July 23 at SAW Video from 6pm to 11pm. Admission is free. For more information, visit website.
SAW Video is at 67 Nicholas St.
The Creation of the World and Other Business
We all know the story: God created Adam and Eve, who ate the forbidden fruit offered by Lucifer, only to be ejected from the Garden of Eden as punishment for their transgression. But how did things get to this point?
Renowned playwright Arthur Miller delves into this question in his 1972 tragi-comedic play The Creation of the World and Other Business, beginning with the necessity of getting Adam and Eve to procreate when they are just too innocent to figure it out for themselves. From there, the play follows their fall, their trek through the desert, and the deadly conflict between their sons, Cain and Abel. It’s a lighthearted show that still manages to treat its subject matter with the gravity it deserves.
The show starts on Thursday, July 23 at the Great Canadian Theatre Company and continues until August 8. See website for ticket info.
The GCTC is at 1233 Wellington St. W.
Samantha Crain
Samantha Crain, a promising young singer-songwriter hailing from Oklahoma, was inspired to write her new album, Under Branch & Thorn & Tree, when she met a woman in Elk City, Okla., who had come to town in the ‘70s to be with her boyfriend during the oil boom. Decades later, well after the collapse of that relationship, she’d yet to leave for greener pastures — life circumstances and poor finances kept her rooted there. The plight of the working class woman is a central topic on the album, and Crain weaves tales of heartbreak, hard times, triumph, and joy with an emotional honesty that belies her youth.
Crain performs at Raw Sugar Café in support of the album on Friday, July 24. Tickets are $10 at the door. See website for more info.
Raw Sugar Café is at 692 Somerset St. W.
Capital Ukrainian Festival
Budmo! — that means “shall we live forever” and it usually involves clinking glasses filled with, perhaps, Zirkova Vodka or a cold, crisp Lvivske 1715 pilsner, which dates back to 300-year-old monastic brewery in Lviv, Ukraine. Either way, it’s part of the Ukrainian experience happening at the Capital Ukrainian Festival this weekend. Perogies, smoked garlic sausages, bright red borscht, cabbage rolls, smoked meat, pampushky (doughnuts), and hand-crafted ice cream will be served along with music and dancing, egg decoration workshops, art, film, and other activities. It’s happening over three days — from Friday, July 24 to Sunday, July 26 — mostly at St. John The Baptist Ukrainian Shrine near Heron Road and Prince of Wales Drive. While admission to the festival is free, some of the activities/workshops have a participation fee. See website for more information.
St. John The Baptist Ukrainian Shrine is at 952 Green Valley Cres.
The Things We Do for Love
Is it possible for an elderly bachelor and a hot-blooded young woman to find true love? And for that matter, is it possible to a win a man’s heart through subterfuge, deceit, and trickery?
Love is complicated, and Odyssey Theatre explores its various manifestations in The Things We Do for Love, a trio of plays by beloved Spanish writers. The first, Saving Melisendra, is based on a chapter from Miguel de Cervantes’s Don Quixote, in which Quixote is so engrossed by puppet theatre that he leaps into the performance to rescue the fictional damsel in distress.
In the next, Federico García Lorca’s The Love of Don Perlimplín and Belisa in the Garden, the elderly Perlimplín woos his young wife in extreme ways, while in the third, Whether You Like It or Not, a scheming noblewoman causes chaos in Naples in her pursuit of a count’s affections.
Performances begin at Strathcona Park, located along the east bank of the Rideau River, on Saturday, July 25. The show continues until August 23. See website for ticket info.
Strathcona Park is at Laurier Avenue East and Range Road
Centretown Movies
June 1933, New Jersey — it’s a hot Saturday night. Rolling up in your Ford, you throw the car into park, lean back, maybe get a little fresh with your sweetheart (or maybe not), and marvel at this strange new attraction. The air is electric — not just from the heat, but from the buzz of excitement and anticipation for the never-before-seen. Adding to electricity is a cacophony of engines, radios, and children — a great din that grows in intensity until … silence, as a flash of light beams out over metal rooftops onto a white sheet stretched out on Admiral Wilson Boulevard.
Eyes are transfixed by the first images of Adolphe Menjou’s film, Wife Beware, flickering out across the night.
Unless you were standing next to Richard M. Hollingshead, the creator of the drive-in movie theatre, you probably have no idea how intensely he experienced those first few moments. But anyone who has ever watched their first movie under the night sky came close. Recreating that moment, more than 80 years later, is Centretown Movies, which has been showing films throughout the summer since 2001.
Already in full-swing, this Saturday, July 25 they’ll be showing Jurassic Park — a great choice for an outdoor summer flick. Films begin at 9pm and screen in Dundonald Park. Admission is free. See website for more info and future showings.
Dundonald Park is at 512 Somerset St. W.