A monthly selection of forthcoming events recommended by The Spectator's

regular critics

THEATRE

Murder in the Cathedral, Barbican Pit (071 638 8891), 1 June.

The Queen and I, Royal Court (071 730 1745), 11 June. Sue Townsend's bestseller about HM on a housing estate launches new Out of Joint theatre company for Max Stafford- Clark.

Sweet Bird of Youth, National Lyttlelton (071 928 2252), 16 June. Richard Eyre continues to search for gold down in old Tennessee.

Home, Albery (071 867 1115), 21 June. Paul Eddington and Richard Briers in the Gielgud/Richardson mental-home classic by David Storey.

Fiddler on the Roof, Palladium (071 494 5020), 28 June. 30 years on and Topol is still Tevye: if he were a rich man, would he still be doing it?

Sheridan Morley

DANCE

Royal Ballet, Covent Garden (071 240 1911), in repertory from 18 to 30 June. Ashley Page's sixth ballet for the Royal, Fearful Symmetries, shares a triple bill with two works — 36 years apart — by MacMillan: a revival of Danses concertantes, made in 1955 and now in updated `turkish bath' designs by Ian Spurling, plus the more recent Winter Dreams, based on Chekhov's Three Sisters.

Wim Vandekeybus, Queen Elizabeth Hall (071 928 8800), 14 and 15 June. Vandekeybus returns to London with his international company, Ultima Vez, and a new show, Mountains made of barking, which features film footage of blind

Moroccan performer Said Gharbi and British performer

Mary Hebert.

Sophie Constanti

GARDENS

Although it may sometimes feel like it, large flower shows are not entirely confined to the south of England. My part of the world, the east Midlands, sees a new one this year, to be held in the grounds of Holme Pierrepoint Hall, near Nottingham on 25 and 26 June from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. Admission is 12 for adults but free for children.

Ursula Buchan

CRAFTS

Pugin: A Gothic Passion, Victoria and Albert Museum from 15 June — 11 September. Pugin is represented in this exhibition by 400 items ranging over his jewellery, ceramics, furniture as well as architectural drawings. CFA Voysey 1857-1941, Design Museum, Butlers Wharf, Shad Thames Street, till 3 July. Worth seeing small show devoted to perfectionist Arts and Crafts architect and designer.

Ann Catlin Evans —Ironwork, The Gallery, Ruthin Crafts Centre, Park Road, Ruthin, Clwyd till 17 July. One of Wales's finest young blacksmiths.

Tanya Harrod

EXHIBITIONS

Hugh Buchanan: Watercolours 1984-1994, Petworth House, Petworth, West Sussex from 11th. One of Britain's finer and more poetic watercolourists draws inspiration from architecture.

The Constructed Space: Painting, Sculpture and Verse Commemorating the Poet, W.S. Graham, the Manor House, Castle Yard, Ilkley till 26th. A talent worth remembering.

Kalighat: Indian Popular Painting 1800-1930, Museum of Modern Art, Oxford till 19th. Bengali art which influenced Ferdinand Leger by its strong sculptural forms.

Vanessa Pooley: Recent Work, The Orangery, Holland Park W8 16- 29th. Witty and imaginative sculpture celebrating the female form.

'The Voice' Bronze, by Vanessa Pooley, 1990 Here to Stay: Bradford's South Asian Communities, Commonwealth Institute, Kensington High Street, W8. Fascinating photographic record of daily life among immigrants to Yorkshire.

Giles Anty

MUSIC

Three of our leading music festivals take place this month: Bournemouth (4-18), Spitalfields (8-29) and Greenwich (3-12). The line-up at Spitalfields is eye- catching: a concert of Purcell (8 June) with the Gabrieli Consort; two concerts (both on 10 June) by the New London Consort, including Blow's Venus and Adonis; Kent opera staging Britten's The Prodigal Son on 21st and 22nd, and the City of London Sinfonia on 23rd and 29th June.

Chicago Symphony under Barenbolm visits the Royal Festival Hall on 4th, with music by Debussy, Boulez and Brahms (Second Symphony). Meanwhile the London Festival Orchestra under Ross Pople will be in the cathedrals of: Manchester (10th), Ripon (11th), Edinburgh (12th), Paisley Abbey (13th), Durham (14th), Beverley Minister (15th), Lichfield (16th), Brecon (17th), Salisbury (18th), Canterbury (23rd), St Albans (29th), St Davids (30th) Peter Phillips

POP MUSIC

Fleadh '94 (Finsbury Park, June 11) This annual celebration of Irish music inevitably coincides with unseasonal hailstorms and snow flurries, but the bill is as inspiring as always: Crowded House, Christy Moore, the Proclaimers„ Kirsty MacColl, the Saw Doctors, the Cranberries, Fatima Mansions, Mary Coughlan and yet more.

Also recommended: the deeply wondrous Sheryl Crow (Nottingham Rock City, June 6; Shepherds Bush Empire, June 7); John Martyr (touring until June 12); John Hiatt (Forum, June 22); the queen of restraint, Diana Ross (Wembley Arena, June 29, July 1); and for the truly sad and mud- obsessed, the Glastonbury Festival (June 24-26).

Marcus Berlcmann

CINEMA

32 Short Films About Glenn Gould: the Canadian pianist, celebrated for his 'Goldberg Variations' and quirky compositions like 'So You Want To Write A Fugue,' escapes the usual dreary biopic treatment and gets a sort of Goldberg Variations of his own.

Serial Mom: Schlock shock maestro John Waters blows the lid off the suburbs, which hardly seems worth the effort. Pudgy sex bomb Kathleen Turner has fun running folks over in her station wagon etc.

Mark Steyn

OPERA

Jenufa, London Coliseum, (071 836 3161), from 8 June. Erratically brilliant tiro director Lucy Bailey tackles a new production of Janacek's searng early masterpiece for ENO. Jospehine Barstow sings the Kostelnicka, Sian Edwards conducts.

Aida, Royal Opera House (071 240 1200), from 16 June. A new production by Elijah Moshinsky of one of Verdi's greatest operas. The Royal Opera line up looks strong, with three divas (Cheryl Studer, Julia Varady and Nina Rautie) schedulted to alternate in the title role.

The Rake's Progress.

Glyndebourne, (0273 541111) from 19 June. The umpteenth revival of the classic 'Hockney' staging of Stravinsky and Auden's witty exercise in modernist neo- classicism. Andrew Davis conducts.

Rupert Christiansen