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

regular critics

THEATRE

Party Time/Mountain Language, Almeida (071 226 4001), 6 November. A Pinter double bill that includes a new play (Party Time) and is directed by the author. The cast includes Dorothy Tutin, Nicola pagett and Barry Foster.

The Secret Rapture, Bristol Old Vic (0272 250250), 7 November. David Hare play, first seen at the National Theatre, about political and human values as they arise in a relationship between women. Cast includes Jane Booker, Jill Brassington and Emma Gregory.

The Philanderer, Hampstead (071 722 9224), 19 November. Brian Cox directs this production of one of Shaw's liveliest works, with a newly discovered extra act which was regarded at the time as too explicit.

The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Barbican (071 628 3351), 27 November. Thc RSC Christmas special is an adaptation of the Stevenson book by David Edgar (of Nicholas Nickleby fame). Strong cast includes Roger Allam as Dr Jekyll and Simon Russel Beale as Mr Hyde. Peter Wood directs.

Christopher Edwards

OPERA

Simon Boccanegra, Covent Garden (071 240 1066), from 12 November. The darkest and most emotionally complex of Verdi's middle-period operas is given a new production by Elijah Moshinsky. Sir Georg Solti makes a welcome return to Covent Garden, conducting a cast led by Alexandru Agache in the title role, Kin i Te Kanawa as his daughter Mariah

and the promising young Italian bass Roberto Scandinuzzi as Boccanegra's rival Flom

Caritas, Wakefield Opera House

(0924 366556), 21, 23, 24 November. Composer Robert Saxton (a pupil of both Britten and Berio) has based his first opera on a Play by Arnold Weaker. Opera North presents the world premiere of the work in a production by Patrick Mason, conducted by Diego Masson, as part of this year's Huddersfield Contemporary Music

Festival. Rupert Christiansen

EXHIBITIONS

Seventeenth John Moores Exhibition, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool. Show of entries for the prestigious £20,000 John Moores Prize for contemporary art.

Cabinet of Signs, Tate Gallery, _Liv,erpooL Eight contemporary artists from Japan show other

aspects of that country's ingenuity.

The Portrait in British Art, National Portrait Gallery, from 8 November. Seventy top examples of British portraiture from Van Dyck to Sickert.

Whitworth Young Contemporaries 1991, Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester, from 8 November, Biennial show of works by leading British art students. Giles Auty

CRAFTS

William Marshall, Amalgam, 3 Barnes High Street, SW13, till 20 November. Bernard Leach's trusted assistant for many years and a fine monumental potter in his own right.

Duncan Grant and Vanessa Bell: Design and Decoration, Spink Son, SW I, till 22 November. A striking collection of designs on paper made for Omega and after.

Duncan Grant '.r 'Omega Hat'. c. 1915 Ryoji Koie, Galerie Besson, WI, till 29 November. Contemporary Japanese potter whose playful, generous spirit is reflected in his work.

5 Createurs Anglais, Art and Crafts, Chaussee de Charleroi Steenweg 273 , Brussels. Kate Malone, Steven Newell, Simon Moore, Jon Mills, Anthony Bryant, showing at this exciting new Brussels gallery. Tanya Harrod

CINEMA

What About Bob (PG) has Bill Murray playing an anxiety nut, who, rather than be separated from his psychiatrist (Richard Dreyfuss), pursues him and his family on holiday, charms the family and sends his psychiatrist barmy.

Other People's Money (15) stars Danny De Vito playing a slobby Wall Street company raider out to take over and liquidate an established New England company run by Gregory Peck. If you can bear yet another version of Les Liaisons Dangereuses it might be worth checking out Milos Forman's Valmont (15), starring Cohn Firth, Annette Bening and Sean Phillips. Harriet Waugh

MUSIC

The Prokofiev Festival is at the Barbican and the Royal Festival Hall from 2 November, with Rostropovich conducting the LSO. ltzhak Perlman plays the 2nd Violin Concerto at the Barbican on 21 November.

Two Schubert concerts at St John's, Smith Square: on 5 November lain Burnside plays two piano sonatas. On 14 November, Der Win terreise, with Stephen Varcoe, baritone, and lain Burnside. Peter Phillips

GARDENS

There is still time to see the exhibition of watercolours by Fenja Gunn, entitled Lost Gardens of Gertrude Jekyll, at the Museum of Garden History, SE I, till 3 November. These paintings recreate some 20 plans of gardens, or parts of gardens, designed by the most famous of all Victorian garden designers. Ursula Buchan

DANCE

Royal Ballet, Covent Garden (071 240 1066), 20, 21, 26 November. Quadruple bill includes the premieres of new ballets by Jonathan Burrows and William Tuckett, and the company premiere of Balanchine's scintillating Symphony in C.

Trisha Brown Company, Sadlers Wells Theatre (071 278 5916), 13-16 November. A rare and welcome visit from one of America's leading post-modern choreographers.

London Contemporary Dance Theatre, Sadlers Wells Theatre (071 278 5916), 19-30 November. The two-week season features the London premieres of Nina Wiener's Wind Devil, Arnie Zane's Freedom of Information and Dan Wagoner's Flee as a Bird. Deirdre McMahon

POP MUSIC

Tin Machine, touring, 2-11 November. No arena dates for David Bowie's latest venture, possibly because he now prefers smaller venues, and possibly because they wouldn't sell any tickets. Don't expect any oldies, just raucous middle-aged rock with a tinge of desperation.

Christy Moore, Hammersmith Odeon, 7-9, 15-17 November. A little too pro-Republican for some tastes, but still Ireland's most inventive and consistent singer- songwriter, whose current Collection 81-91 (East West) is a worthy sampler. Marcus Beriunann