OCTOBER

ARTSDIARY

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

DANCE

Royal Ballet, Covent Garden (071 240 1066), 30, 31 October. Quadruple bill features important revivals of Jerome Robbins's Afternoon of a Faun and Ashton's scented pas de deux That.

Rambert Dance Company, Royalty (071 831 0660), 22-26 October. The season, part of Dance Umbrella, includes Siobhan Davies's Signature and Laurie Booth's first work for Rambert, New Text/New Kingdom.

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, Alhambra, Bradford (0274 752000), 22-26 October. Return visit of the leading US

contemporary dance company. The repertory includes works by Ailey, Donald McKayle, Calley Beatty and Donald Byrd's Dance at Gym.

Deirdre McMahon

CINEMA

Alan Parker's The Commitments (15) is a funny, gritty, warm-hearted look at a disparate group of no- honer Dubliners who are brought together to form a Soul band. Terrific singing from Andrew Strong, lead vocalist, who plays the foul-mouthed, mean-spirited bus conductor.

Let Him Have It (15) is the true story of Derek Bentley and Chris Craig who killed a policeman when a raid on a Croydon warehouse went wrong. Stars Eileen Atkins and Tom Courtenay.

From America comes Kenneth Branagh's Dead Again (15), a Hitchcock-style detective thriller about a woman with no memory, who appears o be the reincarnated wife of a mant who went to the chair for her murder in the Forties.

Harriet Waugh

THEATRE

The Pickwick Papers, Everyman, Cheltenham (0242 572573), 2-26 October. This theatre is celebrating Its centenary with an adaptation, sponsored by Barclays Bank, of Dickens' novel by Ellis Jones. Brian Hewlett plays Samuel Pickwick Esq.

Kvetch, Garrick (071 379 6107), 8 October. New comedy from actor, director, writer, Steven Berkoff, set in East End and starring himself and Anita Dobson. The title is the Yiddish word for nag or complain.

The Ride Down Mount Morgan, Wyndham's (071 836 3028), 23 October. New Arthur Miller play receiving its world premiere in London. Cast includes Tom Conti, Genama Craven and Clare Higgins.

Christopher Edwards

EXHIBITIONS

Auguste Rodin and Joseph Bernard, Bruton Gallery, Bruton, Somerset, till 16 October. Famous and Lesser known French sculptors shown ensemble; Bernard stands up.

James Ward RA: drawings, watercolours and prints, Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, from 8 October. Creator of Gordale Scar reminds us of the breadth of his talent.

Spectator Covers: Garland and Brookes, The Cartoon Gallery, 4-19 October. No explanation needed for this exhibition.

Japan and Britain: an aesthetic dialogue 1850-1930, Barbican Art Gallery from 17 October. How Western artists absorbed the East and a lesser—known vice versa.

The Black Cap, by Aubrey Beardsley

POP MUSIC

Kylie Minogue, Birmingham NEC, 26 October; Wembley Arena,29 October. Despite much competition, the winsome Miss Minogue still exercises an unearthly hold over millions of screeching moppets.

Chris Rea, touring, 4 October-17 November. Rather more bearable fare from rock's most stolid professional and family man, whose repertoire, despite a dreary new album earlier this year, is beginning to assume impressive proportions. The tour ends with four nights at Wembley Arena. Marcus Berlunann

CRAFTS

Design in the Fifties, City Art Galleries, Manchester, 13 October-5 January. A period of invention and optimism in design all over Western Europe. Not to be missed.

Beyond the Dovetail: An exhibition of skill and imagination In the many crafts, Crafts Council Gallery, 19 September-10 November. A chance to visit the Crafts Council's handsome new premises near Angel tube station, easy parking.

Mingei: Masterpieces of Japanese Folkcraft, Burrell Collection, Glasgow, till 6 October; 15 October —10 November to Sutherland Art Gallery, and then to Crafts Council Gallery. A rich collection of vernacular art collected in the 1920s by the leaders of Japan's arts and crafts movement Tanya Harrod

GARDENS

Following the success, last year, of the Apple Day organised by Common Ground at Covent Garden, there are to be apple celebrations all over the country on or around 20 October. You can eat an Apple Lunch at Smith's Restaurant in Neal Street, Covent Garden, drink cider at the Bulmer Cider Mills in Hereford, and bob for apples at Norwood Park, Southwell, Nottinghamshire.

Ursula Buchan

OPERA

La Boheme, Glyndebourne (0273 812321), from 12 October. The excellent Touring Opera begin their autumn season with a fortnight in Sussex, opening with a new production by Aidan Lang. Anne Dawson and a hot young tenor David Maxwell Anderson sing Mimi and Rodolfo, Ivor Bolton conducts.

Die Walkiire, Theatre Royal, Glasgow (041 332 9000), from October 19. Scottish Opera continue their Ring with the most popular of the tetralogy. Jane Eaglen sings her first Briinnhilde, Willard White Wotan. John Minced conducts.

Les Huguenots, Covent Garden (071 240 1066), from October 24. Meyerbeer's once famous grand opera is revived in a production by the much praised John Dew. The fabulous French soprano Francoise Pollet and American tenor Richard Leech lead a fascinating cast. David Atherton condnets.

Rupert Christiansen

MUSIC

Festivals this month include; Aldeburgh, dedicated to the theme 'Britten/Shostakovich' (24-28), Norfolk and Norwich (9-19); , Cardiff, dedicated to Dvorak (finishes 12 ); and the second instalment of the 'Mozart 200' series, which runs throughout the month at the Barbican.

The London—wide Japan Festival is pursued at theBarbican with 'The Takemitsu Signature', a series of talks, concerts and films for which Takemitsu, who will be in attendance throughout, has written the music (10 and 13). At the South Bank there is a series entitled 'A Little Italy' (16 October-2 November), featuring the music of Lucian6 Berio and Luigi Norio.

Peter Phillips