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

regular critics.

THEATRE

The Importance of Being Earnest, Royalty (831 0660). Excellent revival of Wilde's classic comedy. Strong cast for a limited season.

Diary of a Somebody, Boulevard (437 2661). Gives a far more accurate picture than the over- rated film of the Joe Orton who exists in the Diaries.

An Inspector Calls, Westminster (834 0283). Still going strong, this is a fine revival of the reliable old Priestley favourite. Ends on 31 October. Christopher Edwards

OPERA

The Electrification of the Soviet Union, Glyndebourne, 5 October. World premiere of Nigel Osborne's new opera, conducted by Elgar Howarth, with the American director Peter Sellers making his UK debut.

The Marriage of Figaro, Covent Garden, 8 October (2401066). 'Bernard Haitink in charge of his first new production as music director of the Royal Opera.

The 1987 Wexford Festival opens with Bellini's opera La Straniera. Repertory includes La Cena delle Beffe (composer Giordano) and Cendrillon (Massenet). Theatre Royal, Wexford, 21-31 October (010-35353 22144). Rodney Milnes

MUSIC

To mark the 60th birthday of Rostropovich, the London Symphony Orchestra is giving a series of concerts in the Festival Hall and Barbican from 15 October. Highlights are the Britten Symphony for cello and orchestra on the 15th; the Penderecki Cello Concerto No. 2 on the 23rd, and the Shostakovich Cello Concerto No. 1 and Prokofiev Sinfonia Concertante on the 31st. All of these pieces were dedicated to Rostropovich and are to be played by him in this series.

Throughout October the Wigmore Hall is running an Early Music and Baroque series. Jennifer Smith and the Trio Sonnerie play music by Buxtehude and Bach on the 8th. Melvyn Tan and Anthony Pleeth give an all-Beethoven programme on the 22nd. Stephen Preston and Lars Ulrik Mortensen play German 18th-century flute sonatas by C. P. E. Bach and Quantz (among others) on the 30th. Peter Phillips

DANCE

Dance Umbrella (741 4040). The festival kicks off in London on 14 October with Flying Starts, four evenings of cabaret at The Place. Don't miss New York's Stephen Petronio at Riverside Studios, 22- 24 October.

The Royal Ballet, Royal Opera House, from 16 October (240 1066). This month's rep comprises the controversial Swan Lake and a triple bill of The Firebird, Scenes de Ballet and The Rite of Spring.

Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet, Sadler's Wells Theatre, 27-31 October (278 8916). The season includes an (almost) all-Ashton programme and three London premieres by young dancer/ choreographers Graham Lustig, Derek Deane and Susan Crow.

Julie Kavanagh

EXHIBITIONS

Bonnard Drawings Part II, JPL Fine Arts, 26 Davies Street, Wl. Small sketches of land, sea and city by master of gentle, affectionate drawing.

'Jeune fine clamant data la rue', by Pierre Bonnard Cy Twombly, Whitechapel, till 11 November. Obscure scribbly art from USA. Giant reputation as hard to fathom as the name.

James McIntosh Patrick, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, from 6 October. Evocations of his homeland by one of Scotland's best-loved landscape painters.

Edward Middleditch, Nottingham University Art Gallery, till 24 October. Retrospective of memorable images by overlooked British artist who died this year.

The Experience of Landscape, York City Art Gallery, till 8 November. Worthy large-scale show demonstrates variety of 20th- century responses to nature. Giles Auty

CINEMA

The devil is in fashion for October: New England demonology in The Witches of Eastwick (15), based on the John Updike novel and starring Jack Nicholson, Cher and Susan Sarandon. Bliss (18) opens on 30 October at the Odeon Haymarket: Australian black comedy wherein an adman goes to hell.

The Metro, Rupert Street, has a Soviet film season till 8 October; the Renoir shows Letters from a Dead Man (PG), a grim and impressive Russian vision of survival after a nuclear holocaust.

At the NFT, a jazz all-nighter on 10 October begins a short season of jazz films: Aria (15) is an operatic fiesta (or fiasco) with 12 directors, including Godard, Roeg and Jarman, interpreting their favourite aria on film. Hilary Mantel

POP MUSIC

John Marlyn (touring). Loved by critics, Martyn's idiosyncratic blend of every popular music form you can mention has never really broken through to the mass audience, which means you can still see him in such relatively intimate circumstances as London's Town & Country Club on 11 October. Sad for him, great for us.

Chris Rea (touring). Adult pop's great underachiever has never really equalled the splendours of his 1980 Tennis album, but if he's no longer hungry, his shows are still highly professional. LP review-to

Follow. Marcus Berkmann

GARDENS

The Beale Arboretum, West Lodge Park, Cockfosters Road, Hadley Wood, Herts, has more than 350 varieties of tree, all labelled. Open Sunday, 25 October, 2-4.

The Bodenhzun Arboretum, Wolverley, Wares, has only been open since 1973 but can claim 900 kinds of tree and shrub, including a grove of Swamp Cypress, Taxodium distichum (which colours to fox-red in autumn) in the shallows of the 3-acre lake. Open Sunday, 11 October, 2-6.

The Autumn Fruit and Vegetable Show, one of the most enthralling of the Westminster Flower Shows held by the Royal Horticultural Society at their halls in Greycoat Street and Vincent Square, London SW1, is open 6 and 7 October, 11-7 and 10-5. Ursula Buchan

SALE-ROOMS

The Gallia Collection of French gold coins at Christie's on 6 October includes some louis d'ors that were never circulated but used only at Louis XIII's court, as gambling chips.

Chinese snuff bottles galore: the Dwyer Collection at Christie's on 12 October and, the day after, the Young Collection at Sotheby's.

Sotheby's are selling the property of the late Stephen Tennant at Wilsford Manor, Salisbury on 14 October. Besides some unusual Italian and English furniture there is a bust of Tennant by Jacob Epstein, currently undergoing a mini-revival, and Beaton photographs. On view from 9