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

Troilus and Cressida Olivier Theatre

This theatre and this Shakespeare play are made for each other, a fact proved, somewhat belatedly, by the masterly sweep of Trevor Nunn's gifted production. To 9 May

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

Volpone Swan Theatre, Stratford

Comedies don't come funnier or more astringent than Ben Jonson's brilliant dissection of avaricious, over-reaching egotism. Comic genius Guy Henry is the treacherous parasite. To 9 Oct

2

A Midsummer Night's Dream Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford

In Michael Boyd's beguiling staging, Josette Simon's Amazonian Titania is sex-on-very-long-legs and could devour Tina Turner for breakfast. To 9 Oct

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. Ends tonight

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