INDIA: A CELEBRATION OF INDEPENDENCE, 1947-1997

All life is here, from back-street Calcutta to the icons of “Bollywood”. This photographic exhibition at the Royal Festival Hall, South Bank, London SE1, observes India’s complex history and changing cultural identity over 50 years. Exhibits include: Sunil Janah’s portraits of Nehru and Gandhi, Sebastiao Salgado’s pictures of shanty towns and the poor, Henri Cartier-Bresson’s black and white shots, and Mary Ellen Mark’s snake-charmers, street acrobats, bear-trainers and wrestlers. Free admission. Details: 0171 960 4242. Accompanying events: 0171 921 0953.

UNTIL JANUARY 25

THE CASTLE SPECTRE

This story, written 200 years ago by M G Lewis, author of gothic chiller The Monk, has been adapted into a comedy melodrama at the Warehouse Theatre, Croydon. It is also a moving love story and deals with the slavery issue with a sensitivity way ahead of its time. Tickets: Pounds 5-Pounds 9.50. Details: 0181 680 4060.

UNTIL MAY 19

HAMMER HORROR

Have a horrible, hair-raising time at this new Museum of the Moving Image exhibition on the South Bank, London SE1. It marks Hammer Studios’ 40th anniversary. No exhibit is too frightening for anyone over five. Details: 0171 928 3232; 0171 620 2025 minicom.

DECEMBER 6-22

SURGERY BEFORE ANAESTHETICS

The Old Operating Theatre Museum and Herb Garret, St Thomas’s Street, London SE1, are running macabre events suitable for children. Mainly at weekends, they include: Sir Henry Thompson and the two royal bladder stones (Leopold I and the Emperor Napoleon); the holly and the ivy (healthy poisons and poisonous cures); the sawbones and the bodysnatchers (Victorian medical dissection); a Victorian amputation; a Dickensian Christmas; and “Frankincense and Myrrh: a herbal Christmas”. Details: 0171 955 4791.

DECEMBER 9-12

GREENCANDLE DANCE COMPANY

The Company is performing The Very Best Friend (for 3-7-year-olds) and Alanna and the Tree (for 7-12s) at The Cochrane Theatre, Southampton Row, London WC1. The first tale is about Mr Clickermouse, who thinks his computer is his only friend, and the second about a brave girl’s attempt to prevent the destruction of her village by the building of a new road. Tickets: Pounds 3.50. Details: 0171 242 7040.

DECEMBER 13-JANUARY 25

KRISHNA THE DIVINE LOVER

Krishna’s striking beauty, charismatic personality and adventurous life have inspired Asian artists through the ages. He matured into a great poet-philosopher, but is said to represent the ultimate male fantasy, multiplying himself and making love to many women at the same time. All these facets are represented in this exhibition of miniatures at Brighton Museum and Art Gallery. Details: 01273 290900.

DECEMBER 20-JANUARY 4

BREAKING THE CODE

A secret coded document has been torn up and scattered around the Imperial War Museum in Lambeth Road, London SE1. Young visitors piecing it together and solving the mystery will receive a special award. Details: 0171 416 5315.

JANUARY-JULY

MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM

Shakespeare in Education is touring this production around schools nationwide. If you are interested in booking the play andor workshops for your school or college, please contact them on 0121 440 87721525. Workshops include: introductory theatre games, work on characters and relationships within the play, themes and issues, text analysis and scene study. A question and answer session is also available.