The Independent Recommends: Theatre

SALMAN RUSHDIE'S Haroun and the Sea of Stories, which centres on a young man's quest to renew his father's threatened storytelling powers, gets a vivid, highly imaginative treatment from Tim Supple and co. Billowing sheets, gadgets-a-go-go and a live world-music soundtrack take you from Alifbay to Chup, via Gup, and back again.

Cottesloe, RNT, London SE1 (0171-452 3000) 2.30pm & 7.30pm

The pairing of two short Sixties farces, Peter Shaffer's Black Comedy and The Real Inspector Hound by Tom Stoppard (right) has proved a triumph for Warehouse Productions, the company set up by Sam Mendes to bring more challenging fare to the West End. Hound, a spoof thriller that embroils two theatre critics in its corny schemata, paves the way perfectly for the cerebral in-the-dark buffoonery of Black Comedy.

Comedy Theatre, London SW1 (0171-369 1731) 3pm & 7.30pm