The Independent Recommends: Theatre

IT MIGHT seem a safe bet to launch a new repertory company with The Seagull (below), but Chekhov's comedy - which he modestly described as "a lot of talk about literature, not much action, and five bushels of love" - is such an ineffable combination of moods that to have struck a balance between pathos and bathos, as director Jude Kelly has done, is no mean feat. Ian McKellen inevitably makes a splash as the bemused Doctor Dorn, but the whole ensemble works to create beautifully overlapping ripples of dissatisfaction.

West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds (0113-213 7700) 7.45pm

One of the highlights of the BACs "One Woman" festival - dedicated to female monologues and cabaret turns - must be Cyndi Freeman's Greetings from Hollywood, a guided tour of the seedier side of Tinsel Town and the damaged egos that fester there by a former made-for-TV soft-porn star.

BAC, London SW11 (0171-223 2223) to Sun, 9pm