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6: '91.• ECI_(: MEER ARTS 7F y A monthly selection of forthcoming events recommended by The Spectator's regular critics

DANCE

The Royal Ballet, Covent Garden (240 1066), 7 December. The Prince of the Pagodas: the premiere of Kenneth MacMillan's long- awaited production, to the only ballet score ever composed by Benjamin Britten.

Sadlers Wells Royal Ballet, Sadlers Wells (278 8916), 19 December-6 January. The season features the premieres of new works by William Tuckett and Vincent Redmon; Balanchine's Divertimento No 15; revivals of MacMillan's Solitaire and Las liermanas and Ashton's delectable The Two Pigeons.

Deirdre McMahon

CINEMA

Venus Peter (PG). A boy given to fantasy grows up in the Orkney Islands in the late Forties. Some say a magical film—others say it's sentimental.

When Harry Met Sally (15). Romantic comedy charting the course of love and friendship over 11 Years; sharp script by Nora Ephron.

Eat a Bowl of Tea (12). Before the second world war, New York's Chinatown was a bachelor society; then Chinese-American servicemen were allowed to bring brides from China. Wayne Wang's

much praised by American critics, is about one such marriage and the expectations that surround it. Hilary Mantel

OPERA

The Love for Three Oranges, Coliseum (836 3161), 6 December. David Atherton conducts Richard Jones's ENO/Opera North co- production of Prokofiev's anarchic comedy, with designs by the Brothers Quay and a cast headed by Jane Eaglen, Alan Woodrow and Bonaventura Bottone.

Les Vepres Sicillennes, La Scala, Milan. The season opens with Pier Luigi Pizzi's new production of Verdi's opera conducted by Riccardo Muti. First night on St Ambrose's Eve, 7 December.

Show Boat, Leeds, from 8 December, and Stratford, from 10 February, The Opera North/11SC co-production of Jerome Kern's classic musical is directed by Ian Judge and conducted by Graeme Jenkins, with a cast headed by Sally Burgess, Linda Kitchen, Peter Savidge and Bruce Hubbard.

Rodney Milnes

EXHIBITIONS

Miro: Sculpture, Southampton City Art Gallery, 9 December. Like his fellow Spaniard Picasso, Miro saved his best wit for sculpture.

Folly and Vice: the Art of Satire and Social Criticism, Bolton Art Gallery, 16 December. 135 prints and drawings from Goya and Gillray to George Grosz.

Robert Organ: Recent Paintings, Beaux Arts, York Street, Bath. More rich and inventive figures and landscapes from this talented but little-known painter.

Works on Paper from the Government Art Collection, The Fine Art Society, 148 New Bond Street, W1 , till 15 December. Rare chance to see superb works from official residences, etc.

Elizabeth Murray's 'Child in Turk- ish Dress', at the Fine A rt Society

Images of a Golden Age: Dutch 17th-Century Paintings, Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery. 140 masterpieces from real masters: Rembrandt, Hals,

Vermeer et al. Giles Auty

SALE-ROOMS

Sir Joseph Robinson's collection of old master and British paintings at Sotheby's on 6th. The controversial Trumbull papers on 14th, also at Sothebys. Christmas-linked sales: Cycles and cyling ephemera at Phillips West Two, on 5th; Cats in Art at Bonham's, on 11th, and Pedal Cars and Children's Motorised Vehicles at Sotheby's, Sussex, on 19th. Peter Watson

CRAFTS

Making It: Thirteen Craft Demonstrations, V & A Gallery 41, 1-10 December. Staff and students from London's art colleges demonstrate a wide range of techniques from stone-carving CO fine printing to musical instrument making.

A Popular Art: British Wallpapers 1930-1960. Orleans House, Riverside, Twickenham, till 11 February. Twentieth-century painters have hated the epithet 'decorative' — but here are wallpapers designed by Edward Bawden, Enid Marx and Graham Sutherland.

The Art of Textiles, Spink and Son Ltd, King Street, St James, 6-20 December. Textiles over 14 centuries from China, India, Persia and Europe, all for sale.

Christmas Show, Contemporary Applied Art, 43 Earlham Street, Covent Garden, till Christmas Eve. Mixed craft exhibition. The best Christmas presents. Tanya Harrod

POP MUSIC

Michelle Shocked (touring). Her splendid new album Captain Swing

has broadened her range to • encompass jazz and swing as well as her folkie origins.

Deacon Blue (touring). Possibly a little too Springsteen-ish for my tastes these days., but still impressive performers, with one- and-a-half albums-worth of good material. Will Wembley Arena (17, 18 December) be too big for them?

Marcus Berkmann

MUSIC

The Barbican Hall is featuring the Chamber Orchestra of Europe on 1, 4 and 6 December. On the 1st they are conducted by Sandor Vegh in a programme of Bach, Beethoven, Mozart and Schubert; on the 4th and 6th they are conducted by Claudio Abbado in further favourites, including Martha Argerich on the 6th playing Ravel's Piano Concerto in G. The Barbican continue their Christmas concerts with King's College Choir on the 15th singing part of Bach's Christmas Oratorio, and Richard Hickox conducting Handel's Messiah on the 19th.

Further Christmas concerts are given by: the Westminster Abbey Choir in Westminster Abbey singing Venetian and German music from the 17th century, on the 15th; the Bach Choir Carols, conducted by Sir David Willcocks, at the Fairfield Hall, Croydon, on the 20th; Handel's Messiah at St John's Smith Square on 16th, 19th, 21st and 22nd, performed by the Sixteen Choir and Orchestra.

Peter Phillips

THEATRE

The Liar, Old Vic (928 7616), 12 December. Revival of one of Corneille's few comedies. Alex Jennings takes the lead.

Whale, Lyttelton (928 2252), 7 December. Family play about three whales trapped in Alaska, to be staged during daytime.

Noel and Gertie, Comedy (930 1972), 14 December. Another evening with the Master's wit. Poise is guaranteed from Simon Cadell and the incomparable Patricia Hodge.

Thark, Lyric Hammersmith (741 2311), 21 December. A canny Christmas revival of this well crafted and energetic Ben Travers farce, starring Griff Rhys Jones.

Christopher Edwards