The Independent Recommends: The Five Best Plays

The Real Thing (Donmar Warehouse, London)

Tom Stoppard's witty, thoughtful disquisition on love looks even better now than in 1982, helped by an immensely attractive and subtle performance from Stephen Dillane. To 7 Aug

Hay Fever (Savoy Theatre, London)

Collectors of enjoyable camp should rush to see Geraldine McEwan (right), who is sublime as the not-so-retired actress heroine in Declan Donnellan's wittily over-the-top Coward revival. To 14 Aug

Enjoy (West Yorkshire Playhouse)

Thelma Barlow's sunny, touching performance underlines how close Alan Bennett's characters often come to those of Beckett. A first-rate revival of his prescient, blackly hilarious 1980 play about the humbug of the heritage industry. From Mon to 26 Jun

Volpone (Swan Theatre, Stratford)

Comedies don't come funnier or more astringent than Ben Jonson's dissection of avaricious egotism. To 9 Oct

Oroonoko (The Other Place, Stratford)

There's political indignation but a refreshing lack of political correctness in Biyi Bandele's powerful dramatisation of 17th-century writer Aphra Behn's look at the slave trade. To 6 Oct

Paul Taylor