Choice:

A woman goes missing. An act of self-liberation, or a murder case? Haunting, elliptical and darkly comic, Phyllis Nagy's Disappeared, now on tour, trains its sights on a pathetic male fantasist who may or may not be a serial killer. It's a great part, played to perfection by Kerry Shale.

The rehabilitation of Terence Rattigan continues apace with In Praise of Love (right) at the Apollo, a late play that proves him one of the greatest anatomists of English repression, not (as was once thought) one of its victims. Lisa Harrow is extraordinarily good as the terminally ill heroine.

For a virtuoso exhibition of ensemble method acting, don't miss Killer Joe at the Vaudeville. Tracy Letts's comedy is in the height of bad taste, and all the better for it.