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

OPERA

Die Fledermaus. London Coliseum (071 836 3161). from 2 December. Fresh from his highly praised production of Die Walkiire for Scottish Opera. Richard Jones comes to ENO to tackle Strauss's operetta. Will he he able to provide it with the cutting edge and fizzing wit that the previous staging here sadly lacked? Vivien Tierney sings Rosalinda. Adam Fischer conducts.

Dido and Aeneas, Forum, Bath (0225 466541). 11-14 December. John Pascoe's ambitious new enterprise. Bath City Opera, inaugurats itself with Purcell's masterpiece. with the wonderful Della Jones singing both Dido and the Sorceress. Klaus Donath conducts.

Le Nozze di Figaro, Covent Garden (071 240 1066), from 18 December. A strongly cast revival of Johannes Schaaf s interesting production, part of the Royal Opera's belated Mozart celebrations. Felicity Lott and Carol Vaness share the role of the Countess, with Lucio Marie McLaughlin, Thomas Allen and Anne-Sofie von Otter. Jeffrey Tate conducts. Rupert Christiansen

DANCE

Paul Taylor Dance Company, Sadlers Wells (071 278 8916), 3-14 December. One of the highlights of the dance season — a visit from one of America's foremost dance companies and its master choreographer. Not to he missed.

Royal Ballet, Covent Garden (071 240 1066). Ashton's enchanting La Fille Ma! Gaulee, with debuts by Irek Mukhamedov on 10 December and Bolshoi star Nina Ananiashvili on 13 December. The perfect Christmas treat. Deirdre McMahon

POP MUSIC

Gary Glitter, touring, 6-24 December. If Santa Claus ever resigns to spend more time with his family, it sems a fairly sure bet that G. Glitter Esq. would get the job. Pure Christmas tat, as traditional as figgy pudding.

Deacon Blue, Hammersmith Odeon, 21-23 December. Having problems repeating the quality of their first album, or the sales of their second, but still polished and enjoyable live.

Now booking: Simply Red, Wembley Arena, 23, 24 January; Eric Clapton, Royal Albert Hall, 12-14, 16-18, 22-24, 26-28 February. Marcus Berkmann

GARDENS

For those harassed parents searching for a novel but educational way of entertaining their children in the run-up to Christmas, may I suggest a trip to Santa's grotto (a.k.a. the Princess of Wales Conservatory) at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. The theme this year is 'The Reawakening after Winter' and each child will, after a talk from Santa about perennation, receive two presents. I shall not say what these are, because it is a botanical surprise, ho, ho, ho. The grotto will he open on the three weekends before Christmas, 10.30- 12.30 and 1.30-3.30; admission is £2. Ursula Buchan

EXHIBITIONS

The Circular Dance: New Work br Six Women Artists, Arnolfini. Bristol. British artists reveal evidence of their Indian origins.

Ilamburg Abroad: Seven Artists From Hamburg, European Visual Arts Centre, Ipswich. For any to whom Ipswich is more accessible than Hamburg, a taste of the latter's culture.

Nihonga: Traditional Japanese Painting 1900-1940, British Museum, from 19 December. Artists loyal to the Rising Sun in spite of the dawning of Western influences.

'Rough Coast', 1926, by Hirafuku Hyakusui (1877-1933) Fernand Leger's Circus. Brighton Museum and Art Gallery. fhirty- seven beautifully printed lithographs explain Leger's lifelong love of the circus. Giles Auty

MUSIC

St John's Smith Square is given over to a series of choral Christmas concerts this month: The Sixteen perform Handel's Messiah on 16, 17 and 21 December; Christ Church Cathedral Choir sing music by Bruckner, Poulenc, Warlock and Howells on the 19th, and the Hilliard Ensemble present mediaeval French music on the 211th.

The Queen Elizabeth Hall continues its series Roses and Revolutions, a celebration of Hans Werner Henze at 65, on 4 and 11 December. The second of these concerts includesfive movements from Henze's Requiem 'In Memoriam Michael Vyner', which has not yet been completed. Jiri Benda's Ariadne auf Naxos is performed at the QEH on 6 and 8 December by the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment under Ivan Fischer. Benda was a close contemporary of Mozart. Peter Phillips

THEATRE

As You Like It, Lyric Hammersmith (081 741 2311), from 4 December. Check by Jowl's all-male production of Shakespeare's comedy has already had a great success on tour. Dcelan Donnellan, the director and co-founder of the company, is an inspired man of the theatre and this production sounds very promising.

Electra, Riverside (081 748 3354), from 5 December. Fiona Shaw returns with this much admired production of Sophocles's tragedy,

directed by Deborah Warner. _ Oliver, Thcatr Clwyd (0352 758323), 6 December. Lionel Bart's Dickensian musical revived in Wales for Christmas.

Christopher Edwards

CINEMA

A thin month dedicated to children: The Addams Family (PG), marring Anjelica Huston and Christopher Lloyd, is based on the monster family created by the cartoonist Charles Addams, and tells how their Gothic lifestyle is threatened when their wicked lawyer teams LIP with a greedy mother and son to steal their fortune.

From John Hughes, the director of Home Alone, conies Curly Sue (PG), the story of a nine-year-old girl raised by her penniless guardian (James Belushi) until a worldly woman lawyer enters their life and transforms it.

For those who wish to temper the Christmas spirit with culture, the Barbican Centre will he showing Rigoletto, starring Luciano Pavarotti, for the first time in an

English cinema. Harriet Waugh

CRAFTS

The Lichfield Silver Commission, Twentieth Century Link Gallery.

V & A, till 2 February. A remarkable example of modern ecclesiastical patronage technically these pieces arc excellent; what they lack is a religious sensibility.

Object and Artefact, Anna Bornholt Gallery, WI, from 10 December. Applied art by big names like Picasso, Cocteau, Sonia Delauney.

Orangerie Italiana 1991: the International Fair of Italian Art and Antiquities, Accademia Italiana, SW7, 4-IS December (entry £6). Classy antiques fair with lectures, loans and prize for the most important re-attribution of !he year. It is called the Leonardo Prize — a great name brought low.

Tanya Harrod Tanya Harrod