7, T 41 '~il February

ArtsDiary

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

THEATRE

Long Day's Journey Into Night, Bristol Old Vic (0272 250250), 14 February. Eugene O'Neill's marathon autobiographical masterpiece featuring the tortured family life of the Tyrones. Timothy West and Prunella Scales take the lead roles. Howard Davies directs, John Gunter designs.

Twelfth Night, The Playhouse (071 839 4401). Peter Hall directs Shakespeare's comedy of mistaken identity. A very strong cast includes Eric Porter, Dinsdale Landen and David Ryall. The production will visit the Lyceum Theatre Sheffield (12-16 February) and the Theatre Royal Brighton (18-23 February) before opening in London on 28 February.

Playboy of the Western World, Quarry Theatre, West Yorkshire Playhouse (0532 442111), 5 February. J. M. Synge's Irish comedy, set in a small village on the west coast of Ireland, is revived with a cast that includes Niahm and Sorcha Cusack and Tony Rohr. Christopher Edwards

MUSIC

The Mozart celebrations continue this month at the Barbican Centre with the Allegri Quartet (8th); Colin Davis and the English Chamber Orchestra (13th); Westminster Abbey Choir (20th); Nigel Kennedy (27th). In a separate series the London Fortepiano Trio will continue their cycle of Mozart's Piano Trios and Quartets in the Wigmore (15th).

The Musik-Biennale of Berlin will take place for the first time in both halves of the city between 14 and 24 February. It will draw on the many ensembles who were active in what was two cities, and present a truly impressive number of events.

Other concerts in London include The Sixteen singing Poulenc in St John's on the 16th; a series of concerts of music by Elliott Carter at the South Bank between the 1st and 17th; Ton Koopman playing at the QEH on the 2nd. Peter Phillips

OPERA

Gotterdammerung, Covent Garden (071 240 1066), from 4 February. Glitz Friedrich's grey production of the Ring continues, so far chiefly distinguished by the warmth and colour of Bernard Haitink's conducting. A somewhat geriatric cast is leavened by Kathyrn Harries and Donald Maxwell as the Gibichung siblings.

Count Ory, New Theatre, Cardiff (0222 394844), from 16 February. Welsh National Opera presents

Rossini's jolly romp in a new production by Aidan Lang, with Bonaventura Bottone in the title role and the admired young Italian Carlo Rizzi conducting.

The Turn of the Screw, London Coliseum (071 836 3161), from 16 February. ENO revives Jonathan Miller's production of Britten's operatic masterpiece, with Eilene Hannan as the Governess.

The Cunning Little Vixen, Theatre Royal, Glasgow (041 332 9000), from 8 February. Janacek's profound but comic treatment of the relations between man and the natural world. David Pountney's celebrated production, cleverly designed by Maria Bjornson. Justin Brown conducts.

Rupert Christiansen

POP MUSIC

Eric Clapton, Royal Albert Hall, 5 February-9 March. Old Floppy Hair's annual residency at the Albert Hall — 23 nights in all, a new record — includes six nights of straight blues with Robert Cray and others, and six 'Orchestral Evenings' featuring Michael Kamen's Concerto for Guitar and Orchestra. Hopelessly unfashionable, but a real treat.

Clapton returns to the Albert Hall

Bob Dylan, touring 2-13 February. For the tour that never ends, a new line-up, some new songs, and possibly even the odd smile, to follow the one he gave last year. Expect an audience full of sad fortysomethings in tight jeans and bomber jackets, with a cardiac unit standing by. Marcus Berkmann

CINEMA

Mffier's Crossing (18). Albert Finney and Gabriel Byrne wage gang warfare in 1929 not in Chicago but somewhere unspecified in the East. Directed by Joel and Ethan Coen who gave you Blood Simple, so expect violence.

The Russia House (15). Recent events may make this seem old- fashioned but the pedigree is strong. A John le Carrel novel adapted by Tom Stoppard, directed by Fred Schepisi, starring Sean Connery, Michelle Pfeiffer and Klaus Maria Brandauer.

Dances with Wolves (12). Kevin Costner uses his clout to direct and star in a long and defiantly unfashionable romantic drama about a hero of the American Civil War who goes west and makes friends with Sioux Indians who speak not so much with forked tongue as with sub-titles.

Mark Amory

CRAFTS

Phil Eglin: Figurative Ceramics, Oxford Gallery, Oxford, 11 February-13 March. Remarkable — with sources of inspiration ranging from Cranach to Tang to Staffordshire flat-backs.

Treasures and Trinkets: Jewellery in London from Pre-Roman Times to the 1930s, Museum of London, from 5 February for one year. Five hundred pieces spanning 1,900 years display the taste of rich and poor alike — much to ponder on.

Tanya Harrod

EXHIBITIONS

Exotic Europeans, Bristol Museum & Art Gallery. How the colonised peoples of Africa, Asia and the Americas viewed visiting Europeans from 17th century on.

Man and Metal in Ancient Nigeria, Sainsbury Centre, Norwich, from 12 February. Seventy superb sculptures include Benin masterpieces.

Albert Pinkham Ryder,

Whitechapel Art Gallery. Famous American romantic Ryder (1847- 1917) remains little-known in Britain. Also our own Michael

Andrews (b. 1928). Giles Auly

GARDENS

The National Trust has organised a series of lectures on Monday evenings in February (and early March) at the Purcell Room, South Bank Centre, London SE1. Most have a garden history or restoration theme. On 4 February Keith Goodway will talk on Biddulph Grange—the Restoration of a Victorian Garden, on 11 February Paul Edwards's theme is Restoring and Designing Garden Features, and on 18 February the subject of Peter Thoday's lecture is The Victorian Walled Garden. The lectures are at 6 p.m. and tickets are £4.50 and £4.00. Ursula Buchan

DANCE

Royal Ballet, Covent Garden (071 240 1066), 7-26 February. The world premiere of Kenneth MacMillan's new ballet Winter Dreams, with Darcey Bussell and Trek Muldiamedov.

Spring Loaded, The Place (071 387 0031), 5 February-30March. Festival of contemporary choreography. Highlights include a new full-evening work by The Featherstonehaughs and the London premiere of Adventure in Motion Pictures' Town and Country. Deirdre McMahon