Things to Do in Montréal October 30 to November 5

Clocks turn back but Montréal faces forward this week with innovate and affordable gourmet cuisine at MTL à Table Restaurant Week, all manner of Halloween celebrations, mind-expanding new dance, theatre, film and art, and live music that shakes up the status quo.

Restaurant Week specialities

Food, glorious food, rules the city this week as MTL à Table, Montréal’s official Restaurant Week, celebrates the pleasures of a good meal, a perfect snack and the best tipple to pair with it. Until November 8, food lovers can find table d’hôte reduced prices ($21, $31 or $41), culinary tours, wine tastings, chocolate sampling, special events and more at 150 restaurants and other locations throughout the city. See our Tourisme Montréal Guide to the 2015 Edition of MTL à Table for details and get ready to feast at brilliant brunch eateries, family-friendly restaurants, group-friendly locales, bring-your-own-wine favourites and much more, plus try out local cheeses or take a gourmet excursion. Alternatively, if you’d like to get in the kitchen yourself, choose the Montréal cooking class that suits your tastes. Find autumn delicacies at local farms and wineries and take a delicious piece of Montréal home with you in a jar with these locally-made treats.

Halloween thrills

Enjoy the freaky, fantastic fun of Halloween in Montréal this weekend at shows, events and parties citywide. Dress to the spooky nines as the Montréal Symphony Orchestra and conductor Kent Nagano celebrate with a classical program of Danse macabre, Night on Bald Mountain and more on October 30. Walk among the zombies at the Montréal Zombie Walk on October 31. Gather your costumed kids and go to the Montréal Space for Life for the Great Pumpkin Ball and pumpkin decorating at the Montréal Botanical Garden. The Rocky Horror Picture Show Ball has cult movie fans cheering, hosted by Plastik Patrik with a cast of characters on stage, at the Imperial Theatre October 30 and 31. Laugh it up with local comedians at A Very Night Fight Halloween, October 30 and 31 at Comedyworks. You’ll have to try pretty hard not to scream at Peur Depot in the the Old Port, while the momentary scares of animatronic dinosaurs and bodily functions at the Montréal Science Centre’s Dinosaurs Unearthed 2 and Human exhibitions might be better suited to younger trick-or-treaters. See this year’s Tourisme Montréal Montréal Halloween Guide for more eerie activities, from haunted tours to late-night parties. On November 1, trade costumes for hockey jerseys as the Canadiens play the Jets in the first of three games this week – the Habs take on the Senators on November 3 and the Islanders on November 5, all games at the Bell Centre.

Show time

International dance stars light up this week as Les Grands Ballets Canadiens performs choreographer Jirí Kylián’s 10th-century Japanese folk tale ballet Kaguyahime, to October 30, and Hofesh Shechter Company proves to be fierce and fascinating once again in Sun, November 5 to 7, both at at Place des Arts. Dancer-choreographers Jeff Hall and Pierre-Paul Savoie of PPS Danse reinvigorate their highly physical duo Bagne, at Cinquième Salle to October 31. In theatre, Funny Girl sings and dances into our hearts at the Segal Centre to November 8 and Butcher unravels a war crimes mystery at Centaur Theatre, November 3 to 29. See dance, theatre, film and live music at the Festival du Monde Arabe, October 31 to November 15, including free events at Place des Arts. The CINEMANIA festival of French-language films opens November 5 with Jacques Audiard’s Dheepan and continues to November 15. See award-winning Winnipeg filmmaker Guy Maddin’s newest film fantasy The Forbidden Room at the Phi Centre November 2 to 7 as well as more films including Kahlil Joseph’s Arcade Fire doc The Reflektor Tapes. Director Benjamin Kahlmeyer looks at the refugee crisis in Germany in The Invisibles and joins the screening on November 5 at Excentris. And the Au Contraire Film Festival screens films on the subject of mental illness – see Jessica Yu’s exploration of artists, Living Museum, on October 30 at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.

Art abounds

Three must-see artists show masterful work at the Musée d’art contemporain this autumn: celebrated American painter Dana Schutz, Quebecois visual and sound artist Patrick Bernatchez and French multimedia artist Camille Henrot compel our eyes and ears with their intelligent, beautiful art. Get a dose of virtual reality in Robert Lepage’s The Library at Night, using Oculus Rift technology to tour 10 amazing libraries spanning the globe, at the Grande Bibliothèque. Over at the SAT dome, French/Japanese duo Nonotak immerse us in 360° image and sound work Versus, but only until October 30. Modernism comes to life in the Colours of Jazz exhibition of 1920s works by the Beaver Hall Group at the Montréal Museum of Fine Arts, along with Her Story Today featuring work by six Canadian female painters, the iconic photography of American artist George S. Zimbel and Owen Kydd’s Durational Photographs. Step into the visionary mind of acclaimed designer and visual artist Rad Hourani at Arsenal gallery in Griffintown, November 6 to January 17 – building upon his array of previous work seen at Montréal’s Phi Centre and internationally, Hourani’s Neutralité – Neutrality exhibition challenges gender norms in fashion and beyond. And see the labour-intensive hand-painted ink work of Karen Elaine Spencer at Ellephant gallery.

Live music

Musician-composer Néstor Vaz leads tango musicians and dancers in a glorious Tribute to Piazzolla at Place des Arts on October 30, while German power metal band Blind Guardian and Grave Digger get a little closer to the Halloween spirit at Virgin Mobile Corona Theatre, British electronic duo AlunaGeorge update trip-hop with future-pop danceability at Fairmount Theatre, and singer-songwriter Jeremy Loops and his man-bun play harmonica, ukulele and guitar at Petit Campus. Along with all the Halloween mayhem, Toronto hardcore punks Cancer Bats party at Bar Le Ritz PDB and indie-pop locals TOPS shake the dancefloor at Fairmount Theatre on October 31. Les Petits Violons orchestra opens its 51st season with a free concert featuring L’Ensemble Jean Cousineau on November 1 at 4 pm at Église Saint-Pierre-Apôtre (1201 rue de la Visitation). On November 2, San Francisco’s Deafheaven come down to earth at Club Soda, Austin psych-rockers The Bright Light Social Hour illuminate Divan Orange, acoustic singer-songwriter turned pop star Halsey dazzles at Metropolis, while Marina and the Diamonds shine on November 3 at Metropolis and local Québecois star Jordan Officer launches a new album at La Vitrola. Simon Leclerc conducts the Montréal Symphony Orchestra in two evenings of Soul Music, blending gospel, RB and soul and a full orchestra, November 3 and 4 at the Maison Symphonique at Place des Arts. Austin indie-folk-pop band Wild Child get us swaying to the beat on Wednesday, November 4 at La Sala Rossa, while across the street at Casa del Popolo Tom Carter captivates with his guitar symphonies, Scarlett Jane bring their upbeat country sound to Divan Orange and British progressive metal band TesseracT gets noisy at Cafe Campus. On Thursday night, Australia’s Xavier Rudd The United Nations keep fans happy and lovestruck, with Sudanese musician Emmanuel Jal opening, at Metropolis, Daniel Romano plays his signature Canadian country tunes at Petit Campus and Screaming Females, Potty Mouth and Heathers totally rock Bar Le Ritz PDB.