The New York Times recently sent theater critic Charles Isherwood on a trip to London, where he saw Shakespeare, quasi-Shakespeare and Kristin Scott Thomas onstage. While there, Isherwood took note of the theatrical import-export balance between Broadway and the West End.

• Stephen Sondheim’s Assassins at the Menier Chocolate Factory.

• Shakespeare's Henry IV at the Donmar Warehouse.

• Mike Bartlett’s King Charles III at the Wyndham's Theatre.

• David Hare's Behind the Beautiful Forevers at the National Theatre.

• Sophocles's Electra at the Old Vic Theatre.