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

regular critics

THEATRE

Entertaining Strangers, Cottesloe (928 2252). David Edgar's 'promenading' piece set in 19th- century Dorchester, full of vivid, locally researched period detail. Judy Dench, Tim Piggot-Smith and rest of cast are all excellent.

A Lie of the Mind, Royal Court (730 1745). American playwright Sam Shepard's latest play, about love obsession and American myth: grotesque, comic, realistic, ambitious, interesting.

Separations, Hampstead (722 9310). Tom Kempinski's latest two- hander: emotionally inadequate English playwright falls in love with crippled American actress over the telephone. Painfully accurate contemporary psychological study.

Christopher Edwards

OPERA

Die Entfiihrtmg aus dem Serail, Covent Garden, 9 November (240 1066). Sir Georg Solti returns in the week of his 75th birthday to conduct Elijah Moshinsky's new production with designs by Sir Sidney Nolan and Timothy O'Brien.

Iphigenie en Aulide, Vienna State Opera, 15 November. A new production conducted by Sir Charles Mackerras to mark the 200th anniversary of Gluck's death.

The Barber of Seville, Coliseum, 18 November (8363161). Mark Elder conducts Jonathan Miller's new production in a new translation by Amanda and Anthony Holden.

Rodney Milnes

MUSIC

The Cardiff Festival of Music runs from 18 November to 5 December. Many of the larger-scale concerts take place in St David's Hall, including Mahler's Third Symphony on 18 November with the LSO under Michael Tilson Thomas.

The Contemporary Music Network will be presenting a nationwide tour by the jazz pianist John Taylor and his group Foil, along with Vocal Summit. Together their style of performance is one of the most exciting in present-day Anglo- American jazz.

On 18 November the BBC Symphony Orchestra will be giving the Royal Concert, in the presence of the Duke and Duchess of York

at the Albert Hall, conducted by Sir John Pritchard. The music includes Gounod's St Cecilia Mass and Walton's 'Belshazzar's Feast'.

Peter Phillips

EXHIBITIONS

Franz Xaver Winterhalter, National Portrait Gallery. Glitter and elegance from one of the greater flatterers of noble patrons. Brilliant 19th-century froth.

Countess Musina-Pushkina by F. X. Winterhalter

L.S. Lowry Centenary Exhibition, Salford Art Gallery. Grand celebrations to mark centenary of Salford's famous son who waited a long time for recognition when living.

Tony O'Malley: Island & Ocean, Watermans Art Centre, Brentford. Former Irish bank clerk turned abstract painter. Colourful evocations of Cornwall, Ireland and the Bahamas.

8th Cleveland International Drawing Biennale, Cleveland Gallery, Middlesbrough, till 21 November. Sixty drawings selected from 2,000 submitted, so ought to be good. Giles Auty

CINEMA

The 31st London Film Festival runs from 11 to 29 November, at the NFT and cinemas around Leicester Square. The opening film is A Prayer for the Dying, controversial IRA thriller now virtually disowned by its director Mika Hodges; there follows a strong international progrdmnie of new releases and interesting revivals. Telephone booking opens 5 November, and information is available from the London Film Festival Box Office (928 3232).

Let's Hope It's A Girl (15) is an Italian family saga with Philippe Noiret, Catherine Deneuve and Liv Ullmann; well received at last year's London Film Festival.

Playing Away (15) is about a West Indian cricket team from Brixton

who play a 'friendly' in a Suffolk village; script by Caryl Phillips.

Hilary Mantel

DANCE

Dance Umbrella '87. This month's highlights include Eiko & Koma performing their prizewinning work Grain (ICA, 11-14 November) and the welcome return of Trisha Brown and Company with a London premiere as well as their enthrallingly lyrical Set and Reset (Sadler's Wells, 11-14 November).

London Contemporary Dance Theatre, Sadler's Wells, 17 November - 5 December. A promising season marking the company's 21st anniversary.

Northern Ballet Theatre, Palace Theatre, Manchester, 30 November - 2 December. World premiere of Gillian Lynne's A Simple Man based on L.S. Lowry's life and work. Julie Kavanagh

POP MUSIC

Tom Waits (touring). The old croaker has never really developed anything vaguely resembling a mass audience, but his fans indulge his experiments and will be out in force for what might be some highly entertaining shows.

Lloyd Cole & the Commotions (touring). The new album is being treated as something of a `make-or- break' for this erudite Scots band. Let's hope they don't crumble under the pressure.

Marcus Berkmann

SALE-ROOMS

Will Van Gogh's 'Irises' (Sotheby's, New York, 11 November) top the $40 million paid for 'Sunflowers'? In the current climate will it reach $20 million?

In London, on 30November comes Christie's big Impressionist sale, including Degas' Les Blanchisseuses' (estimate £4 million), Gauguin's 'Les Trois Huttes' and works by Cezanne, Renoir, Braque and Picasso from the Josef Muller Collection. Someone had better buy Charlie Allsopp a new gavel. Peter Watson

GARDENS

One very fine tree collection escaped the full force of the recent hurricane. Westonbirt Arboretum, Tetbury, Glos., was originally planted by the great orchid enthusiast, Sir George Holford, in the early years of this century. The autumn colour of the Japanese maples in the Acer Glade is particularly impressive. Open every day from 10 a.m. until dusk.

Ursula Buchan