The Importance of Being Earnest - TNT

It's back to the world of cucumber sandwiches and inscrutable manservants in this straightforward revival of Oscar Wilde's 1895 comedy of multiple mistaken identities and a baby found in a handbag. Algernon and John, both moneyed young men of leisure, aren't yet quite at home with the rhythms of Wildean wit, but things look up when Penelope Keith's superior Lady Bracknell arrives with her daughter (Daisy Haggard's spirited Gwendolen) in tow. She delivers her lines to the manor born as she questions her would-be son-in-law's credentials. There's nice work, too, from Rebecca Night's Cecily (his determined teenage ward whose sweet exterior belies a deviously sharp determination) and from Janet Henfrey as her spinster governess, blushingly falling for the local reverend.
Vaudeville, Strand, WC2 (0870- 040 0084). Until April 26. £45-£20

Worlds End - TNT

In an emotional 70 minutes, Paul Sellar's Edinburgh transfer pulls apart a three-year relationship as Charlotte Lucas's artist Kat packs her belongings. It's a job made even more upsetting by the obstinate presence of her ex (Merryn Owen's struggling but half-hearted writer Ben) who promised to be out when she came round, but now refuses to leave the basement flat they used to share — partly because he's hoping to change her mind, partly to satisfy his curiosity about the man who's replaced him.It's a sad but familiar last-ditch scenario, given added interest when Kat's tall, dark and handsome new man drops his guard and her high-maintenance best friend shows her true colours.
Trafalgar Studios (2), Whitehall, SW1 (0870 060 6632). Until March 8. £22.50 (£15 Monday)

Scarborough - TNT

Thanks to an emotional performance from Holly Atkins as a 29-year-old PE teacher having an affair with a 15-about-to-turn-16-year-old pupil, the first half of Fiona Evans' well-acted Edinburgh hit is totally compelling in a voyeuristic way. For its London transfer, it has doubled in length and the Royal Court's smaller auditorium is transformed into a meticulously recreated bedroom (complete with peeling wallpaper, en suite bathroom) in a seaside guest house. The audience perches wherever there's an available space – on a window ledge or chest of drawers - and is encouraged to move after the interval, presumably to give a different perspective as, in a neat gender reversal, the older woman with toy boy scenario is replaced by a male teacher and a confident schoolgirl on a dirty weekend away. Word for word,the dialogue is virtually the same, as, on the face of it, is the outcome.The nuanced differences don't quite merit the repetition of this unsettling, sometimes powerful piece, but the hurt and disappointment that these clandestine relationships cause is, perhaps surprisingly, more convincingly evoked in Jack O'Connell's cocky but childishly vulnerable Daz than in his female counterpart.
Royal Court Theatre Upstairs, Sloane Square, SW1 (020-7565 5000). Until March 15. £15- £10

The Lover/The Collection - TNT

First aired on TV in the early '60s, this double bill of Pinter shorts keeps firmly in the period, with the teasing emergence of uneasy sexual liberation permeating both of them. In the first, a suburban housewife reinvents herself as a bedroom vamp to play out sexual fantasies with her afternoon lover who is, in fact, her straight-laced husband similarly, but less comfortably, transformed. In the second, an older gay man (excellent Timothy West) takes charge of a messy, possibly adulterous, situation when his much younger companion is accused of spending the night with another man's wife. There's more than a hint of events moving out of control, and Jamie Lloyd's carefully pitched production captures the menace, the comedy and the homoerotic overtones of Pinter's work.
Comedy Theatre, 6 Panton St, SW1 (0870-060 6637). Until May 3. £20-£45

The British Ambassador's Belly Dancer - TNT

Officials who fall from grace have to make a living somehow – and so do their partners. So while Craig Murray (the former ambassador to Uzbekistan who was removed for his outspoken comments about the use of torture) has written a book, his decades younger and far prettier other half is undulating seductively on stage and giving us more than a glimpse of what first caught the middle-aged, long-married diplomat's eye when he visited a Tashkent nightclub. Co-written with Alan Hescott and Murray (who is now her husband) Nadira Alieva's one woman show sets out to tell her story - from an impoverished childhood smuggling drugs for her out of work actor father, through a university education, to the discovery of the seductive power she had over men – and the more brutal force they could (and, twice, did) exert over her. It's strong material (though does it really add much to our understanding to know that Murray is into spanking?). But there's something so pert and coy about much of the performance that (despite her protestations that she wants to prove she's more than just a bimbo) it's with her scantily clad body that this former lap dancer still tries to win over her audience. Interesting none the less.
Arts Theatre, Great Newport St, WC2 (0844-847 1608) Until February 23. £15 - £12.50

The Homecoming - TNT

While a pair of written-for-TV Pinter shorts is currently making its mark in the West End, his slightly later and more frequently revived black comedy from the mid '60s gets an atmospheric airing in the more intimate surroundings of the Almeida. Once again, a highly charged eroticism emerges as the eldest of three sons (now an academic based in the States) brings his wife, Ruth, back home to North London to meet the relatives. They're all still firmly rooted in their working class origins - one brother wants to be boxer, the other (Nigel Lindsay's quietly disconcerting Lenny) is a pimp. Meanwhile their father (Kenneth Cranham's red-faced, ex-butcher Max) blusters in grubby vest, cloth cap and cardie, heaping expletives on his adult offspring and veering erratically from sentimentality to explosive near-violence. But, ultimately, even their combined testosterone-fuelled misogyny proves no match for Jenny Jules' Ruth. Cool, detached and in total control, she discovers an unlikely fascination with their repellent lifestyle, and knows exactly how to play each member of this all-male household to achieve exactly what she wants. Almeida, Almeida St N1 (020-7359 4404). Until March 22. £29.50- £6.00

Sweet William - TNT

Michael Pennington first fell under the spell of Shakespeare's words as an unwilling 11-year-old, dragged along by his parents to see a production of Macbeth. Now, it's almost time for him to collect his pension, but his enthusiasm remains undiminished. In a little over two hours, and with only a chair and a blood-red handkerchief to keep him company on an otherwise bare stage, his perceptive one-man show gives a glimpse of what has fired this lifelong passion.By his own reckoning, Pennington has devoted more than 20,000 hours to either rehearsing or acting in the Bard's plays, not to mention writing several books about them. So he's doubly well qualified to take an audience on a guided tour through the elusive life of the man who was born and died in Stratford upon Avon, but, in the interim, frequently disappeared off the historical map.Apart from his intelligence and analytical insights, it's Pennington's mellifluous voice and relaxed delivery which make the evening such a success. Whether he's suggesting what Shakespeare was really up to during those missing years, or slipping into actor mode to deliver less familiar snippets from his works, his ongoing love affair with England's greatest dramatist is a treat for anyone wanting to delve just a little deeper into what lies behind the text.
Trafalgar Studios (2), Whitehall, SW1 (0870-060 6632). Until February 16. £27.50

The Vertical Hour - TNT

David Hare's 2006 play is primarily a political argument dressed up as personal conflict. It's supremely well-acted — by Indira Varma as American Nadia (a former foreign correspondent turned Yale academic) who supported the invasion of Iraq, and Anton Lesser as Oliver, her English boyfriend's doctor father (a '60s liberal and former womaniser) who opposed it. Their introduction at his isolated home provides an excuse for a soul-searching exchange of ideas — and an unanticipated spark of attraction — but (like her relationship with his physical therapist son) the interactions don't always ring true. As they challenge each other's differing perspectives, they too often seem mere mouthpieces. But, thanks to the detailed performances and Hare's wide-ranging intellect, the debate is — just about — kept on track.
Royal Court Theatre, Sloane Sq, SW1 (020-7565 5000). Until March 1. £10-£25

A Prayer For My Daughter - TNT

American Thomas Babe's intense late '70s drama brings two suspects face to face with the cops for a long night of soul-searching and interrogation on the Fourth of July. It's late, and he's tired, but Sergeant Kelly wants a confession before he goes home - even though his manic depressive daughter has just called him threatening to commit suicide.High stairways leading down to the police squad room place them all in a kind of New York hell - all four have, one way or the other, sunk pretty low and Babe draws little distinction between the felons and the law enforcers, symbolic, no doubt, of his view of the declining state of his country. The structure is sometimes awkward, and he stretches credulity a bit too far, but the performances carry the evening. Matthew Marsh's belligerent Kelly drinks on the job and is free with his fists; his much-married sidekick Jack (Corey Johnson) keeps his heroin kit neatly stashed in his desk drawer. And Sean Chapman's gay middle-aged Sean (a former Vietnam orderly turned criminal) maintains a remarkable sangfroid as he and his young junkie companion (a twitching, Colin Morgan) are accused of callously blowing the head off an innocent elderly lady.
Young Vic, The Cut, SE1 (020-7922 2922). Until March 15. £22.50-£10

Happy Now? -Cottesloe Theatre - This is London

What happens when the high
achievers who thought they could have it
all in their twenties and thirties suddenly
find, as the next decade looms into view,
that their careers, their partners, their
families aren't quite as fulfilling as they
expected them to be? That's the situation
facing middleclass, high-powered
charity worker Kitty in Lucinda Coxon's
immensely enjoyable, well observed and
very funny new play. She's reached a
point where the things she worked so
hard to get suddenly don't seem quite so
rewarding. But it takes the easily
laughed off and seductively genial
advances of Stanley Townsend's portly,
middle-aged fellow delegate to spark a
growing discontent with the state of her
life and her marriage.
Thea Sharrock's nimble production
would probably transfer well to television,
but there's nothing like the intimacy of
watching these all too credible characters
on stage as they wrestle with problems
which will – even if at one remove – be all
too familiar. An impossible, infuriating
mother (Anne Reid), a dangerously ill
father, alcoholism, the strain of juggling
parenthood with the demands of a
stressful job - there's something here that
will touch a nerve in most people past a
certain age.
And it's superbly acted too – with
Olivia Williams' Kitty (deputising for a
senior colleague who, ironically, is
suffering from the very disease she is
campaigning to eradicate) at its volatile
centre. There's fine support, too, from
Jonathan Cullen as her husband (whose
decision to give up his lucrative job as a
lawyer in order to teach has
unintentionally shifted the marital
dynamics), from Dominic Rowan as his
irredeemably offensive former colleague
with a greater rapport with the bottle
than with his indecisive wife, and from
Stuart McQuarrie as Kitty's best friend, a
sympathetic gay man who provides a
shoulder to cry on even when his own
heart is quietly breaking.

Louise Kingsley

Let There Be Love - TNT

Kwame Kwei-Armah's enjoyable new comedy has a serious message or two to impart, but (unlike his Statement Of Regret which is coming to the end of its scheduled run at the National Theatre) this sharp, humane domestic drama employs a much lighter and more amusing tone and is all the more effective for it.Elderly Alfred (who came to England from Grenada in the 60s) isn't in very good health and can't manage alone in his Willesden house. He's a cantankerous, intolerant racist who won't speak to one (unseen) daughter, and barely tolerates the other (Sharon Duncan-Brewster's Gemma). So, when they take matters out of his hands by arranging for someone to help him out for a few hours a week, he's immediately antagonistic. But, predictably, a friendship grows between the old man from the Caribbean and Lydia Leonard's new immigrant Maria, a young Pole whose lively decentness soon breaks through his belligerent exterior. It's more than a touch sentimental, but the dialogue is fast and snappy and Joseph Marcell gives an irresistible performance as Arthur — embittered, defensive, disappointed, but, underneath it all, with an unexpected capacity to enjoy what life is still left to him.
Tricycle, Kilburn High Rd, NW6 (020-7328 1000) Until February 16. £18- £8.50

The Sea - TNT

Although Edward Bond's often hard-hitting work was influential in the UK in the '60s and '70s, his political dramas have long fallen out of fashion. Artistic director Jonathan Kent has bravely chosen to revive his only comedy, which premiered at the Royal Court in 1973. Veering from a Tempest-like storm scene to the am dram rehearsals of sedate Edwardian ladies to the violent stabbing of a washed-up corpse, its odd unpredictability is excellently served by spot-on acting. David Haig's increasingly demented draper, convinced that aliens are about to take over, proves once again he's a master at portraying frustrated rage. Eileen Atkins's Mrs Rafi rules over the little coastal town with imperious disdain, and Marcia Warren provides comic joy as her subtly rebellious companion.
Theatre Royal Haymarket, Haymarket, SW1 (0844-844 2353). Until April 19. £20-£47.50