Top shows in town

Each week Nicholas de Jongh takes time out to recommend five shows you shouldn't be missing. This week...

1: Twelfth Night

Sam Mendes's ravishing version bathed in romantic melancholia. Donmar Warehouse

2 Uncle Vanya

Simon Russell Beale shattering in Chekhov's tragicomedy of unrequited love. Donmar Warehouse

A Streetcar Named Desire

Tennessee Williams's great drama of desperation, desire and disintegration. National Theatre: Lyttelton

4 A Number

Caryl Churchill's enthralling futuristic vision of family life. Jerwood Theatre Downstairs At The Royal Court

5 Afterplay

Two Chekhov characters (John Hurt, Penelope Wilton) meet up in the Twenties. Gielgud Theatre.