Theatre: The Five Best Plays In London

1

Good Donmar Warehouse

Starring Charles Dance, CP Taylor's play about accommodations with conscience is revived in an immaculate and sensitive production by Michael Grandage. To 22 May

2

Forbidden Broadway Jermyn St Theatre

Deliciously spiteful and tremendously funny selection of musical theatre spoofs from Sondheim to The Lion King via Elaine Paige, by a crackerjack cast of four plus piano. To 6 May

3

Gross Indecency Gielgud Theatre

The artfully fractured form of Moises Kaufman's compelling play about Oscar Wilde presents the writer - man and symbol - in all his complex contradictoriness. Booking to 5 Jun

4

Shockheaded Peter Lyric Hammersmith

The deliciously sinister Struwwelpeter stories meet the macabre Tiger Lillies in a glorious, gorgeously gory evening of music theatre. Ends tonight

5

Copenhagen Duchess Theatre

Michael Frayn's profound and haunting meditation on science, morality and the mysteries of human motivation. To 7 Aug

... AND BEYOND

The Weir Everyman, Liverpool

Subtly strung-together ghost stories pack a surprising punch in Conor McPherson's marvellously unfashionable, gentle play. Ends tonight

2

The Late Middle Classes Palace Theatre, Watford

Simon Gray excels in this funny-sad play about a young boy caught between two types of oppressive love in Fifties England. Ends tonight

3

Colombe Salisbury Playhouse

Up-and-coming director Jonathan Church signs off at Salisbury with the characteristically bold and imaginative choice of an Anouilh comedy set in Paris's theatrical demi-monde. To 7 April

4

Uncle Vanya Mercury Theatre, Colchester

Gregory Floy stars in the Chekhov classic - the second leg of the Mercury Theatre's brave experiment in forming a resident ensemble of actors for nine months of each year. To 24 April

5

The White Devil Haymarket Theatre, Leicester

A dab hand at playing women with a past, Gabrielle Drake portrays the imperious, determined "White Devil" in Webster's lurid Jacobean tragedy. To May