5 things you should check out this week
Monday April 15 to Sunday April 21
THEATRE— Molière’s Don Juan: John Wright directs his all-new adaptation of Molière’s most ribald play. Scandalous womanizer Don Juan (Peter Jorgensen) refuses moral reformation, blasting his way past ruined women and conquered men, whilst keeping up witty repartee with his abashed servant, Sganarelle (the excellent Simon Web). Gateway Theatre, Richmond, to April 27 -Michael HarrisTim Matheson
MUSIC— With charismatic lucidity, William Tyler explains in his album-teaser video that he discovered focus at a young age, due to his being born on Christmas day. “I never believed Jesus was a Capricorn,” he reasons, “but it made sense to me that Elvis was.” On Impossible Truth , he makes hazed, cinematic folk-instrumental music. He plays Montreal’s O Patro Vys on April 19 and Toronto’s Silver Dollar April 20. -Brad WheelerWill Holland
TELEVISION— Is it a TV show or a video game? Both, actually. Launching in tandem with an online video game, this new series from America’s Syfy network takes place in your standard dystopian near-future and chronicles the uneasy co-existence between mankind and an extraterrestrial species called Voltans. Mostly, it’s about humans and aliens trading laser blasts. Standing out in the generic cast is Canada’s own Graham Greene as a gruff mine owner named Rafe. Showcase, 10 p.m. ET (April 15) -Andrew RyanSyfy
FILM— The season’s first blockbuster takes us to a post-apocalypse Earth seven decades hence: Our moon has flown the coop, the Earth lies in devastated ruin, survivors have fled to new digs on a moon of Jupiter and Tom Cruise is sent to mop up any earthly remains while pondering whether love can still exist in such radioactive air. Sounds like Wall-E for real. (April 19) -Rick Groen
VISUAL ART— David Askevold, who died at 68 in 2008, was one of the pioneers of conceptual art, working in a variety of media and idioms . Although the Montana-born Askevold lived and worked mostly in the U.S., he spent six influential years teaching at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design. This retrospective is organized by the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia and shows at its Halifax location starting April 13. -James Adams