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

regular critics

THEATRE

No Man's Land, Almeida (071 359 4404), 2 November. Harold Pinter with Paul Eddington in his own play, first seen with Gielgud and Richardson.

Our Song, Apollo (071 494 5070), 3 November. Peter O'Toole back with writer Keith Waterhouse and director Ned Sherrin (from Jeffrey Bernard) for age-gap romance.

Lost in Yonkers, Strand (071 930 8800), 12 November. Neil Simon's latest Broadway hit: memories of childhood. With Maureen Lipman and Rosemary Harris.

Stages, Lyttelton (071 928 2252), 18 November. Alan Bates reunited with playwright David Storey and director Lindsay Anderson.

Annie Get Your Gun, Prince of Wales (071 839 5987), 25 November. The old Irving Berlin musical with Kim Criswell, John Diedrich and Sunday matinees (no show Monday). Sheridan Morley

DANCE

Trisha Brown Company on a first visit to the Tramway, Glasgow (041 227 5511), 4-7 November, showing a collection of recent works Astral Convertible, For MG: The Movie — next to Brown's early and brilliant construction, Opal Loop.

London Contemporary Dance Theatre returns to Sadler's Wells (071 278 8916) for its annual pre- Christmas season, from 24 November. Three new additions bolster the repertoire: Christopher Bruce's Rooster, set to a soundtrack by the Rolling Stones; My Father's Vertigo, by Frankfurt Ballet's Amanda Miller; and Mark Morris's Motorcade, originally created for the White Oak Dance Project in

1990. Sophie Constanti

OPERA

Princess Ida, London Coliseum (071 836 3161), 14 November. A lesser-known G & S, crassly satirising the cause of women's education, has been handed over to the devilish directorial imagination of Ken Russell for this new ENO Production. A meteoric young soprano, Rosemary Joshua, takes the title role, and Jane Glover conducts some of Sullivan's most ambitious vocal music.

the Frau ohne Schatten, Covent Garden (071 240 1066), 16 November. A tantalising prospect

designed by David Hockney and Ian Falconer, directed by John Cox and conducted by Bernard Haitink, this production of Richard Strauss's dazzling fairy-tale epic has Anna Tomowa-Sintow and Franz Grundheber in the cast.

Petrified, The Place (071 387 0031), 26 November. The excellent Mecklenburgh Opera enterprisingly stages this contemporary opera by Czech composer Juraj Benes, set in 19th-century Slovakia.

Rupert Christiansen

GARDENS

Flora Photographica, an intriguing exhibition of photographs ranging from the lyrical to the bizarre, shows clearly that flowers have played a part in the development of photographic art ever since the days of Fox Talbot. At present at the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, till 22 November, the exhibition can be seen at Manchester City Art Galleries, 28 November-17 January, and at the Mead Gallery, Coventry, 23 January-7 March. Ursula Buchan

EXHIBITIONS

Tony Foster: Rainforest Diaries, Bruton Gallery, Bath, till 25 November. Wonderful watercolours of Costa Rican forests painted on site.

Peter Lanyon: Air, Land & Sea, Camden Arts Centre, from 6 November. North London showing for Cornish painter killed in a gliding accident in 1964.

Eric Gill Sculpture/Fourteen Scandinavian Artists, Barbican Art Gallery, from 11 November. Superb sculpture from cranky mystic, plus part of Scandinavian festival with awful title — Tender is the North.

'Event; 1975, by Sigurdur Gudmundsson, at the Barbican

Emily Patrick, Agnew's, Wl, from 11 November. Charming, unaffected renderings of children, vegetables and other domestic props. Giles Auty

MUSIC

Two leading international soloists are playing in London this month: No Pogorelich will give a piano recital at the Royal Festival Hall, 10 November, in aid of the historic sites of Dubrovnik. His programme will include music by Chopin, Ravel and Rachmaninov. On 12 November Midori will play Bartok's Second Violin Concerto at the Barbican with the LSO under Tilson Thomas.

The Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, 19-29 November, features composers Berio, Xenakis and Cage from abroad; Tavener, Turnage and Colin Matthews from Britain. The high point promises to be the 28th, when Berio conducts the BBC Philharmonic and Electric Phoenix in performances of his own Ofanium and Sinfonia, the first time these two works will have been

heard together. Peter Phillips

POP MUSIC

The Beautiful South, Birmingham NEC, 23 November; Wembley Arena, 24 November;Sheffield Arena, 25 November. 0898 The Beautiful South remains my album of the year — glorious songwritng, perfect production, terrific tunes and anyone who hasn't bought it should buy it now. Why aren't all pop groups this good?

Also recommended: Robert Cray, still a-gnashin' and a-weepin', Edinburgh Playhouse, 16 November; Hammersmith Apollo, 17, 18 November; The Cure, touring, 18-27 November; the unsung Melissa Etheridge, Hammersmith Apollo, 1 November; and, still fending off volleys of girdles and gussets, Tom Jones, Birmingham NEC, 14 November.

Marcus Berkmann

CRAFTS

A Festival of Scandinavian Design, Design Museum, SE1, from 12 November. Three exhibitions forming part of the Tender is the North Scandinavian Festival.

Ewan Henderson: Landscape Sculptures and Recent Pots, Galerie Besson, Wl, from 4 November. Ambitious large-scale pieces by this irascible potter.

The De Croy Book of Hours: A Mediaeval Bestseller, Ruskin Gallery, Sheffield. In-depth look at the production and fortunes of a 15th-century illuminated manuscript. Tanya Harrod

CINEMA

Last of the Mohicans (12) stars Daniel Day-Lewis in James Fenimore Cooper's classic. The film pulls out all the stops and should be a smash success.

Based on the true experiences of writer/director Neal Jiminez, The Waterdance (15) is a surprisingly witty and intelligent movie about male bonding amongst a group of paraplegics.

The London Film Festival opens on 5 November with Peter's Friends (15), a pleasant domestic outing directed by the unspeakable Kenneth Branagh. It ends on 22 November with a gala performance of Blade Runner — The Director's Cut. Bookings after 30 October on

071 928 3232. Vanessa Letts