The Independent Recommends: The Five Best Plays

Love Upon the Throne Comedy Theatre

The Charles and Diana story (well, up to the divorce) presented by the National Theatre of Brent. Hilarious and oddly touching. To 31 Jan

Martin Guerre West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds

It's third time lucky for this much-rewritten Boubil/Schonberg musical. In Conall Morrison's starkly involving production, it finally emerges as a tighter, magnificent show. To 13 Feb

Mr Puntila and His Man Matti Albery Theatre

A well-deserved transfer for this Almeida hit (right). Comedy duo The Right Size are inspired casting for Brecht's witty fable about a split- personality landowner. To 9 Jan

Angela Carter Cinderella Lyric, Hammersmith

This feast of inspired seasonal silliness and visual magic by Angela Carter has lashings of drag and double entendres, plus the best mice to be found anywhere on a West End stage. To 9 Jan

A Month in the Country Swan Theatre, Stratford

Ireland's finest living dramatist, Brian Friel, adapts Turgenev's proto- Chekhovian comedy. To 20 Feb