‘Unforgettable’: Marina Poplavskaya, Plácido Domingo and Joseph Calleja in Simon Boccanegra at the Proms. Photograph: Chris Christodoulou The last note of Simon Boccanegra rang out. Verdi’s tragic Doge lay dead on the floor, inches from the lucky front-row Prommers in a packed Royal Albert Hall. Plácido Domingo might be 69 years old but he can [...]

(L-r): Yasmin Paige, Rosie Day, Shannon Tarbet and Jordan Loughran in Spur of the Moment by Anya Reiss. Photograph: Tristram Kenton Anya Reiss is 18. She’s waiting for her A-level results. And her first play has just opened at the Royal Court. It’s vivid and spiky and brought into quick-moving life in Jeremy Herrin’s excellent [...]

Claire Lams as Ana in While You Lie. Photograph: Laurence Winram While You Lie, Edinburgh The Traverse has a habit of throwing up startling new talent during its annual festival season. Not that Sam Holcroft is an unknown. Nurtured through the Traverse’s young writer’s group, her first play, Cockroach, was an instant hit and an [...]