The Independent Recommends: Theatre

ARTHUR WING PINERO'S 1904 comedy A Wife without a Smile (below) is given a well-calculated revival by Dominic Hill. The play looks at the relationship between maturity and humour, focusing on a marriage where the wife is alienated by her husband's puerile antics. The cast milk plenty of laughs out of characters who are far less funny than they think they are.

Orange Tree, 1 Clarence Street, Richmond

(0181-940 3633) 7.45pm

Alternatively, you could try Ben Crocker's revival of Terry Johnson's hit farce Dead Funny, with Maria McErlane as the wife surrounded by a group of comedy obsessives. The comedy of humourlessness, Nineties-style.

Northcott Theatre, Exeter (01392 493493) 7.30pm