OCTOBER

ARTYDIARY

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

CINEMA

Presumed Innocent (18). Harrison Ford, Greta Scacchi, Raul Julia and Brian Dennehy star in Alan J. Pakula's adaptation of Scott Turnow's best-selling novel.

Silent Scream (15). Voted 'British Film of the Year' at the Edinburgh Festival; based on the life and writings of Larry Winters, an inmate of the notorious Special Unit at Barlinnie prison.

Bad Influence (18). James Spader . (of sex lies and videotape) is cultivated then victimised by Rob Lowe: more sex, more videotape, and a murder.

Israel: State of the Art includes a 32-film retrospective running at the Barbican, 10 October-29 November. Hilary Mantel

DANCE

Dance Umbrella (071 387 0031). Six-week festival of contemporary dance spread over several London venues: Queen Elizabeth Hall, Sadlers Wells, The Place and Riverside Studios. Artists appearing include Stephen Pctronio, Shobana Jeyasingh, Susan Marshall, Yolande Snaith and Margaret Jenkins. There are other regional venues at Bracknell, Bristol and Northampton.

Birmingham Royal Ballet begin their debut season at their new base in the Birmingham Hippodrome (021 622 7486). The repertory includes The Sleeping Beauty, Balanchine's Theme and Variations and Symphony in Three Movements, Ashton's Jazz Calendar and MacMillan's La Fin du Jour and Elite Syncopations.

Deirdre McMahon

OPERA

Attila, Covent Garden (071 240 1066), from 13 October. Energetic early Verdi, with Rugger() Raimondi as the Hun and the exotic Italian soprano Mara Zampieri as the vengeful Odabella. The reliable Edward Downes conducts.

The Vanishing Bridegroom, Theatre Royal, Glasgow (041 331 1234), from 17 October. Judith Weir's A Night at the Chinese Opera has already proved one of the most acclaimed and popular British operas of the last quarter. century. This, its keenly anticipated successor, takes three Gaelic fairy tales as its source and Scots folk-music colours the score.

Doctor Faust, Coliseum (071 836 3161), from 20 October. David Pountney revives his resourceful production of Busoni's fascinating treatment of the familiar legend. A strong cast is led by Alan Opie, Graham Clark and Helen Field.

A Midsummer Night's Dream, Sadler's Wells (071 278 8916), from 24 October. Some of Britten's most gorgeous and sensual operatic invention, conducted by Richard Hickox and brilliantly cast for a production by Opera London which will form the basis for a new recording. Rupert Christiansen

EXHIBITIONS

Israel, State of the Art. Barbican Centre, from 10 October. Painting, photography and craft in largest presentation here of Israeli culture.

Marcel Janco's The Wounded Soldier', at the Barbican Centre The Glasgow Boys, Glasgow International Concert Hall, from 9 October. Forty turn-of-the-century paintings from famed realist group.

The Paintings of William Coldstream (1980-1987), Tate Gallery, from 17 October. Largest ever survey of paintings by quiet and skilled observer.

Steven Campbell on Form and Fiction, Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester, from 5 October. 160 works inspired by singular Scottish view of John Ruskin. Giles Auty

CRAFTS

Janice Tchalenko with Richard Wentworth: Works in Clay, Crafts Council Shop, V & A, 2-28 October. Unlikely collaboration between potter Tchalenko and Duchampian sculptor Wentworth.

Glasgow Girls: Women in Art and Design 1880-1920, The Art Gallery and Museum, Kelvingrove, Glasgow, till 21 October. Probably the best show to come out of the year of culture. Analyses the crucial contribution of women to the Glasgow Style.

The Decorative Beast, Crafts Council Gallery, 24 October-30 December. Animals as form and pattern in craft and design over the last 200 years. Witty and imaginative.

Free Spirits: Seven Women Potters, Llantarnam Grange Arts Centre, Cwmbran. Look out for Eileen Lewenstein's peaceful pots.

Tanya Harrod

GARDENS

The threatened disappearance of many apple varieties, as well as orchards, will be one of the themes of the charity Common Ground's Apple Day on Sunday 21 October at the Piazza, Covent Garden, London WC2. Specialist fruit growers, tree nurseries, juice and cider makers as well as horticultural societies, schools and wild life groups will be manning stalls. The public are invited to bring apples from garden trees for naming by experts. Ursula Buchan

POP MUSIC

Prefab Sprout, touring. After releasing possibly the best pop album of the year, Paddy McAloon's wondrous studio-based band ventures nervously out on to the road for a brief tour. Hot dog, jumping frog, Albuquerque. . . .

The Pogues, touring 7-26 October. With Shane MacGowan not only still alive but back on top form, this tour should approach their best moments. Marcus Berkmann

MUSIC

The London Bach Festival takes place between 15 and 29 October in the Church of St Marylebone, NW!. The theme is Bach at Weimar 1708 -1717 , featuring the organ works, cantatas and chamber music written in those years. Catherine Ennis plays the organ music on 15th, 22nd, 24th and 29th. The orchestral concerts are given by the Steinitz Bach Players on 25th and 27th, the former including several well-known concertos and the latter two little-known cantatas. The chamber music is represented on 23rd. All events start at 7.30.

The South Bank Centre will run a festival from 15 October to 11 November to celebrate the 85th birthday of Tippett. Quartet recitals take place on 15,23 and 25 October and 7 November, given by the Britten String Quartet. Piano recitals by Peter Donohoe are featured on 31 October and 8 and 11 November. A Child of Our Time (Bach Choir and the Philharmonia) can be heard on 30 October, and The Mask of Time (BBC SO and Chorus) on 3 November.

Peter Phillips

THEATRE

The Clandestine Marriage, Bristol Old Vic (0272 250250), from 4 October. A revival of David Garrick and George Colman's 1766 satire about money, lust and marriage. Timothy West leads a strong cast.

Dancing at Lughnasa, Lyttelton (071 928 2033), from 10 October. New play by Brian Friel set in 1936 during the harvest in Donegal. The story touches upon themes of colonialism and the sectarian divide with considerable tact and subtlety. The cast is led by Alec McCowcn.

Christopher Edwards