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,ARTS DIARY

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

DANCE

Regine Chopinot Dance Company, Queen Elizabeth Hall (071 928 8800), 18-19 July. The 12-member troupe, based in La Rochelle, performs British choreographer Richard Alston's latest work, Le Marteau sans maitre, which takes its title from Pierre Boulez's score, plus Rainbow Bandit, originally created for London Contemporary Dance Theatre in 1977.

Birmingham Royal Ballet, Covent Garden (071 240 1911), from 26 July. London premieres of two ballets for the full ensemble: MacMillan's 1992 restaging of his Romeo and Juliet which was given new designs by 21-year-old Paul Andrews, and Choreartium, Massine's large-scale visualisation of Brahms's Fourth Symphony, first danced in 1933. The season also includes the revival of de Valois's Job, MacMillan's Concerto and Peter Wright's production of The Sleeping Beauty. Sophie Constanti

OPERA

Almeida Opera (071 359 4404), 1-18 July. London's smartest fringe theatre collaborates with ENO's Contemporary Opera Studio to Present the premiere of two new works: The Man Who Strides the Wind with music by Kevin Volans, libretto by Roger Clarke; and a version of Ostrovsky's comic A Family Affair, with music by Julian Grant.

The Secret Marriage, Cheltenham Festival (0242 523690), 8, 10 July; Buxton Festival (0298 70395), 17-31 July. Cimarosa's popular opera buffa (based on Garrick's play The Clandestine Marriage) in a new production by Jonathan Miller for Opera North. Andrew Shore and Anne Dawson lead the cast.

Eugene Onegin, Covent Garden (071 240 1066), from 13 July. Yet another production of Tchaikovsky's lyrical version of Pushkin's masterpiece. Lyubov Kazarnovskaya sings Tatyana, Sergei Leiferkus the title role. John Cox directs and the marvellous St Petersburg conductor Valery Gergiev makes a welcome return to Covent Garden to lead the performance. Rupert Christiansen

THEATRE

&Pantie Tables, Albety (071 867 1115), 5 July. The Rattigan renaissance continues with his two clenched tragedies of life among Bournemouth boarding-house misfits. With Patricia Hodge and Peter Bowles.

Much Ado About Nothing, Queen's ((►71 494 5041), 6 July. First

Shakespeare on Shaftesbury Avenue in more than 50 years. Mark Rylance and Janet McTeer challenge the Branagh movie.

The Mountain Giants, Cottesloe (071 928 2252), 14 July. Late Pirandello, unfinished, is given a final act at last by Charles Wood. Gaskill directs the tale of a

magician and some strolling players.

Lust, Haymarket (071 930 8800), 20 July. Heather Brothers musical of The Country Wife, with Denis Lawson, A Connecticut Yankee, Regent's Park (071 486 2431), 28 July. The Rodgers and Hart classic from 1927 comes back into the open air.

Sheridan Morley

CRAFTS

Boomerang! Sights and Sounds of the First Australians, Foyer Galleries, Royal Festival Hall. Odd, moving exhibition that goes beyond Rolf Harris.

Aboriginal man posed with boom- erang in an Adelaide studio, 1890s

The Raw and the Cooked: New Work in Clay in Britain, Barbican Art Gallery, 8 July-5 September. An important show of ceramics in a major venue and emphasising its sculptural ambitions. Tanya Harrod

ARCHITECTURE

It's a Record: Drawings from the Irish Architectural Archive, RIBA Heinz Gallery, WI, till 31 July. Irish architecture 1700-1950, from the fine collection housed at 73 Merrion Square, Dublin. Evocations of some of the best buildings in the British Isles.

Prince of Wales's Institute of Architecture End of Year Show, 14-15 Gloucester Gate, Regent's Park, NW1, till 9 July (10-5 p.m.). Approachable work from the first intake of students on the radical Foundation Course in Architecture and the Building Arts. Alan Powers

EXHIBITIONS

Russian Paintings of the Avant- Garde, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh. A thoroughly interesting show mostly from Russian museums.

Pissarro: the Impressionist and the City, Royal Academy. A wonderful record of 19th-century life from times when artists looked out as well as in.

Derek Hyatt: Clouds Over the Moor, Michael Richardson Contemporary Art, 84 St Peter's Street, Ni, Paintings of our time by artist with intense response to countryside.

The Romantic Windmill, Gainsborough's House, Sudbury, Suffolk, from 10 July. The windmill in British art 1750-1850; now we have pylons.

Photographing Children, Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh. The way children have been seen for 150 years, including images by Lewis Carroll. Giles Auty

GARDENS

The Jersey Floral Festival, 12-17 July, this year encompasses events as various as guided tours of carnation glasshouses and lavender fields, garden openings, wild-flower and nature walks, and a Gardeners' Question Time with the Radio Four team. The island will be en fete, no doubt. More information from Jersey Tourism, Liberation Square, St Helier, JE1 1BB; tel: 0534 500700. Ursula Buchan

MUSIC

The Proms open their doors on 16 July with Strauss's Elektra. Other highlights this month include the Bournemouth SO playing Walton's Violin Concerto and Tchaikovsky's Fourth Symphony(20th), and the BBC SO playing Messiaen's Turangalila Symphony (30th).

The City of London Festival, 4-21 July, includes Marisa Robles at the Vintner's Hall (7th); the European Community Chamber Orchestra at Merchant Taylor's Hall (12th) and The Sixteen performing Tavener's Ikon of Light and Tallis's Spem in alium in St Paul's Cathedral (21st).

Composer-in-residence at The Cheltenham Festival, 3-18 July, is Michael Berkeley, whose opera Baa Baa Black Sheep will be premiered on 3 July. The St Alban's Organ Festival will take place from 8 to 17 July. Peter Phillips

CINEMA

In Steven Spielberg's 'science eventuality' blockbuster Jurassic Park, 65 million-year-old genetically engineered dinosaurs run amok in a theme park off the coast of Costa Rica. The movie also stars Sam Neill, Jeff Goldblum, Richard Attenborough and Laura Dern.

Benny and Joon (12) is an off-beat romantic comedy written by ex- professional clown Barry Berman and starring Johnny Depp as an eccentric drifter modelled on the great Buster Keaton. Vanessa Letts