In the plangent Riders to the Sea, a mother loses the last of her seven sons when he also drowns. In the very funny Shadow of the Glen, a husband only pretends to be dead The last one is by Yeats. In the haunting Purgatory, which has the Beckettian setting of a ruined house with a barren tree, a father who has killed his father now kills his son The three pieces work well together. The linking theme is the shadowy, constant relationship between the living and dead. Crowley handles this commerce between the two worlds with a marvellously sure sense of tone. The traverse staging on a wooden floor is pure, uncluttered and atmospheric. His cast of six play 12 characters as if they were 12 actors.

Humane, tender and funny, Shadows is the perfect antidote to the sensationalism of the chemical generation.’You’ll Have Had Your Hole’: Leeds W Yorks Playhouse (0113 213 7700), to 21 Mar. ‘The Tempest’ & ‘Shadows’: Stratford RSC (01789 295623), to 4 Sept.. BATHROOM CABINETS are great levellers. You can find out that the coolest person still has a penchant for baby powder, and no matter how much one respects another’s privacy, few can resist taking a peek into their host’s bathroom cabinet whilst washing their hands. Although I am a great believer in expensive products, there are some bathroom cabinet staples that can never be bettered

The most obvious example of this is Vaseline.

I don’t know of anyone who doesn’t have a pot, and nothing, nothing is better as a lipsalve. As a young teenager I used to apply it onto my eyelashes as a transparent mascara of sorts, and some people still slick a bit across their eyelids to make them glossy. I don’t like Vaseline as a moisturiser – other than on lips – it’s just too greasy and difficult to absorb (even though Marilyn Monroe is said to have sworn by it) But as a chapped lip saver, it is unparalleled. Tubes of Savlon or Dettol Cream are also brilliant to dab on spots, as is toothpaste in an emergency, or indeed perfume. Certainly better than what was once my last resort – a plaster.