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

regular critics

THEATRE

The Cherry Orchard, Aldwych (836 6404). Another revival of Chekhov's classic, in an excellent new translation by Michael Frayn. A very strong cast includes Judi Dench and Ronald Pickup.

Shadowlands, Queen's (734 1166). A new play by William Nicholson about the moving, true love story of C. S. Lewis and Joy Davidman. Cast includes Nigel Hawthorne and Jane Lapotaire.

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Cottesloe (9282252). Set in Chicago in 1927 in a recording studio, where Gertrude (Ma) Rainey is about to make a record. The story is of her and her band's struggle to preserve the integrity of their music. Strong cast includes Hugh Quarshie. Director is Howard Davies.

Christopher Edwards

CINEMA

New York Stories (15). Three cinematic short stories, one each by Martin Scorcese, Francis Ford Coppola and Woody Allen.

A Chorus of Disapproval (PG). Michael Winner directs Prunella Scales, Anthony Hopkins and Jeremy Irons in an adaptation of Alan Ayckbourn's play.

A Short Film About Killing (18). Grim and singular exploration of a murder and its aftermath, by the brilliant Krzystof Kielslowski; made for Polish TV, it is one of a series of ten films which illustrate the Ten Commandments.

The 33rd London Film Festival runs 10-26 November. Book through NFT box office: 01-928 3232.

Hilary Mantel

MUSIC

Three series already advertised in these listings continue this month: the St John's Smith Square 20th anniversary series on 9th with Bernard Roberts (piano), lain Burnside (piano) and Guy de Mey (tenor); 'Magyarok' — Britain Salutes Hungary up to 21st with symphony concerts at the Barbican and chamber concerts at the Wigmore, the latter entitled 'Haydn at Esterhaza 1766-90: a series on original instruments"; the 25th anniversary of the Nash Ensemble, appearing at the Wigmore on the 4th with music by Mozart, Respighi, Ponchielli and Berio.

The Huddersfield Contemporary Musical Festival runs from 16 to 26 November, featuring John Cage and Pierre Boulez. The Cardiff Festival of Music runs from 15 November to 2 December: the main events wilt be held in St David's Hall.

The London Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican have concerts on 1, 2, 12,16, 19, 23 and 26 November. Highlights include Alfred Brendel playing Haydn and Liszt concerti (16th) and Janet Baker singing Mozart (23rd). Peter Phillips

EXHIBITIONS

Degas: Images of Woman, Tate Gallery, Liverpool. Most of Degas's work featured women from hostesses to laundresses. Fine selection includes seldom seen pastels.

Gordon Bryce, Sue Rankin Gallery, 670 Fulham Road, SW6, from 8 November. Top quality oils and watercolours by excellent but undersung Scottish artist.

Fifty Years On, I ludderslield Art Gallery, from 11 November. Second retrospective for Denis Bowen, wild young man of 1950s experimental art, in town where he studied.

One image of woman: 19th c. Nimba mask from New Guinea

Images of Women, Leeds City Art Gallery. The way women have been represented in art from Ancient Egypt to present Babylon.

Giles Auty

OPERA

Medee, Covent Garden, 6 November. Cherubini's opera- comique of 1797 performed here for the first time in its true form. Rosalind Plowright sings the title role in Mike Ashman's new production, conducted by Mark Ermler.

The Return of Ulysses, Coliseum, 8 November. Second segment of an ENO Monteverdi cycle directed by David Freeman, with Anthony Rolfe Johnson in the title role and Jean Rigby as Penelope. Paul Daniel conducts his own new edition.

Idomeneo, Covent Garden, 27 November. Johannes Schaaf directs, with Philip Langridge and Ann Murray as father and son, and Sylvia McNair and Elizabeth Connell as rivals for the latter's affection. Jeffrey Tate conducts. Rodney Milnes

POP MUSIC

The Who's Tommy, Royal Albert Hall, 31 October, 2 November. Star-studded performances of Peter Townshend's creaky old 'rock opera' (an expression that needs inverted commas these days). Tickets range from £15 to £100 — yes, even nostalgia has a price.

Tracy Chapman, touring. More gloom and fury from the black folksinger who clearly detests her predominantly white audience, who perversely love her all the more for it. Marcus Berkmanil

DANCE

The Royal Ballet, Covent Garden (240 1066), from 9 November. Revivals of Ashton's A Wedding Bouquet (with Derek Jacobi as the Narrator) and MacMillan's Bronte fantasy My Brother, My Sisters.

Dance Umbrella continues with the Merce Cunningham Company at Sadlers Wells (278 8916) until 11 November; Siobhan Davies at Riverside Studios (748 3354) and Second Stride at the Queen Elizabeth Hall (928 8800).

London Contemporary Dance Theatre, Sadlers Wells (278 8916), 21 November-2 December. Premieres of new works by Dan Wagoner, Darshan Singh Bhuller, Jonathan Lunn and Kim Brandstrup. Deirdre McMahon

GARDENS

Gardens may have closed their gates now, but gardeners can still find entertainment and enlightenment. Robin Lane-Fox will be speaking on 'Romance in the Garden' at the English Gardening School on Wednesday, 22 November at 6.30 p.m. Apply for tickets (£19.55) to the school, 66 Royal Hospital Road, London SW3. Ursula Buchan

CRAFTS

The Harrow Connection: Studio Pottery 1963-88, Crafts Council Gallery, till 7 January. Historical section analyses the training of studio potters and dissects the vocational course at Harrow School of Art in the Sixties. Catholic selection of work by ex-Harrow students and staff.

Brews O'Casey: New Jewellery, Oxford Gallery, 23 High Street, Oxford, till 29 November. Deceptively simple, unpolished stones, beaten gold and silver. Also works on paper by David Garland._ Walter Keeler: New Ceramics, Contemporary Applied Arts, till 11 November. Impressive functional pots with metallic surfaces and an