Actits Di/al:yr

A monthly selection of forthcoming events recommended by the Spectator's regular critics.

MUSIC

The Proms feature The Vienna Philharmonic under Bernstein on 10 September with Mahler's 5th Symphony. Zubin Mehta and the Israel Philharmonic play Bruckner's 8th Symphony on 3 September. The Last Night is on September 12.

John Dankworth's 60th birthday concert will be celebrated on 20 September at the Barbican with the London Symphony Orchestra.

`The Genius of Haydn' runs from 12-20 September at the Wigmore Hall. Five leading string quartets will play all Haydn's quartets from the Opus 20 onwards.

Judith Weir's new opera, A Night at the Chinese Opera, with Andrew Parrott conducting, will be first heard in London on 27 September at the Queen Elizabeth Hall.

Peter Phillips

CINEMA

Good Morning, Babylon ('15'). From Tuscany to Hollywood, and on to the battlefields of World War. I; Italian immigrants, once cathedral restorers, build the sets of Intolerance for D. W. Griffith.

The Secret Policeman's Third Ball (`18'). Filmed highlights of four nights of contemporary comedy and music, first staged at the Palladium last spring under the auspices of Amnesty International and the Independent.

Hamburger Hill ('15'). This is the latest Vietnam film, heralding a new offensive; the NFT is showing its precursors throughout the month, with a 'Vietnam on Film' discussion on 16 September.

At the Barbican, a Fellini retrospective with 20 films begins on 18 September.

Hilary Mantel

THEATRE

Fathers and Sons. Lyttelton (928 2252). Free adaptation by Brian Friel of Turgenev's classic novel. A brilliant piece of original theatre despite drab sets. Alec McCowen leads an excellent cast.

The Merchant of Venice. Stratford (0789 296655). New production starring excellent Antony Sher as Shylock.

The Wandering Jew, Lyttelton. Stage adoption of French epic 19th- century novel. Melodramatic, self- conscious, very, very long.

Portraits, Savoy (836 8888). William Douglas-Home's study of Augustus John. Old-fashioned, sentimental, slight, but civilised. Excellent cast includes Simon Ward and Keith Michell.

Christopher Edwards

POP MUSIC

Squeeze (touring). Old-fashioned pop song writing at its best, with previews of the new album `Babylon and on'.

The Housemarthis (touring). After promising much, the world's only Hull-based Christian Marxist four- piece have, on record, erred towards mannered self- consciousness. Live, though, they're still excellent. Marcus Berkman

EXHIBITIONS

The Anderson Collection of Art Nouveau, Sainsbury Centre, Norwich, from 8 September. One of the finest collections of 1900-ish decorative arts and furniture.

Balla at the Riverside.

Balla the Futurist, Riverside Studios, Hammersmith, till 27 September. Work from 1905 to 1924 including paintings, sculpture and furniture.

A Century of Chinese Painting, The Oriental Museum, Durham, till mid-October. Excellent paintings collected by George Walden MP when a diplomat in China.

Masters of the Sea, National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, till 25 October. British marine watercolours 1650-1930.

Treasures from the Catharina, Plymouth City Museum, till 19 October. Finds from wreck of the Catharina von Flensburg which sank off Plymouth 201 years ago.

Giles Auty.

DANCE

Collaboration V, Rambert Dance Company, Riverside Studios, 9-19 September. A choreographic workshop season of two programmes in which Rambert dancers join forces with contemporary British composers and artists, including the much sought after Richard Deacon.

Gaby Agis & Company, Almeida Theatre, 8-13 September. Another promising collaboration with young sculptress Kate Blacker using a commissioned score by rock composer David Sylvian.

Julie Kavanagh

OPERA

Los Angeles. A new production by Andrei Serban of Prokofiev's The Fiery Angel, presented by the Music Center Opera at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in association with the ENO and the Geneva Opera. Marilyn Zschau and Roger Roloff sing the leading roles, and the conductor is Lawrence Foster. First night 16 September; intepertory until the end of the month.

London. Sir Charles Mackerras conducts Philip Prowse's new production of The Pearl Fishers at the Coliseum. Valerie Masterson, Adrian Martin and Sergcy Leiferkus head the cast. First night 21 September, and in repertory thereafter.

Vienna. Agnes Baltsa sings the title role in Jean-Pierre Ponnelle's production of L'Italiana in Algeri (soon to be borrowed by Covent Garden) at the State Opera. Claudio Abbado is the conductor, and the cast includes the American tenor Frank Lopardo (Glyndebourne's Ferrando) and Ruggero Raimondi. From 29 September. Rodney Milnes

GARDENS

Gardens which open in September do so normally for autumn leaf colour. However, it is possible to visit several vineyards, such as Nutbourne Manor Vineyard, Pulborough, West Sussex. The vines are imported from Germany (Muller-Thurgau, Reichensteiner, Huxelrede, Schonburger). Open 5 and 6 September, 2-6.

Marten's Hall Farm, Longworth, Oxfordshire, is well-known among plantsmen for having a very good, old-fashioned nursery. In the garden there are foliage plants and autumn flowering bulbs. Open 12 and 13 September, 2-6.

Trinity Hospice, 30 Clapham Common, London SW4, has a two- acre garden restored by friends of the garden designer Lanning Roper, as a memorial to him. Open 26 and 27 September, 2-6.

Kildrummy Castle Gardens, Alford, Aberdeenshire, is a tree, shrub and alpine garden set in an old quarry. Open for Scotland's Gardens Scheme on 20 September,