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Lightning hasn't quite struck twice at the National: Present Laughter is no Private Lives - even though the author( Noel Coward) and the director (Howard Davies) are the same in both cases.

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All hail the Thane of Cawdor all hail Macbeth - all hail Patrick Stewart in the title role, giving a performance for the ages, under the superb direction of Rupert Goold.

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Carson McCullers The Member of the Wedding at the Young Vic is getting a first-class production under Matthew Dunster's direction. This is a play that taps into teen angst like few before it or after it, have ever done. Special kudos to Portia as Berenice

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Benedict Cumberbatch gives a riveting performance as Berenger in Dominic Cooke's Royal Court production of Ionesco's Rhinoceros. The question posed: Is it better to lie down with the herd than to stand and say no?

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Is this the best Macbeth ever? Well, not exactly. What truly impresses here, though, is the vision of director Rupert Goold. And Patrick Stewart's magnetic assaying of the title role

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Despite its grim story line, Parade delivers a compelling propulsive staging. Not bad for the directorial debut of Rob Ashford

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In A Disappearing Number, Complicite's Simon McBurney has been able to take the complex subject of higher mathematics and make it into an fascinating time in the theatre

Eugene O'Neill's early experimental play The Emperor Jones still has the power to move audiences. Paterson Joseph is superb in the title role.

Let joy be unrestrained: Love's Labour's Lost...is a winner. This delicate souffle is staged exceedingly well by Dominic Dromgoole and his creative team at Shakespeare's Globe.

For a show that started out as a 15-minute lark nearly 40 years ago, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat has certainly shown great staying power-and a greatly enhanced length too