The Independent Recommends: Theatre

MICHAEL Frayn's collection of eight playlets, Alarms and Excursions (right), takes a light-hearted look at our helplessness in the age of creature-comforts technology. It's a mixed bag, but director Michael Blakemore gets his dependable team (Josie Lawrence, Robert Bathurst, Nicky Henson and Felicity Kendal) to hit an agreeable number of comic buttons.

Gielgud Theatre, London W1 (0171-494 5065) 7.45pm

The Steam Industry do more than justice to Rodney Ackland's speedy adaptation of Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment, neglected since 1946, with a cast of 16 bundling into a space even sardines would baulk at. Mark Collison shines through the gloom as a feverish Raskolnikoff.

Finborough Theatre, London SW10 (0171-373 3842) 8pm