Opera Review
The weird and wonderful fringe
Seek delights in vain at our main companies, but the fringe lets them gambol free
Mad for it
A review of Lucia di Lammermoor at the Opera Holland Park
Wagner saga just keeps on giving
Richard Wagner, it appears, had Nazism thrust upon him
Bum deal
The Queen of Spades, Garsington
Domesticating Wagner
A new production of Die Walküre is at odds with its music
Family matters
Jephtha, Il Pomo d’Oro, Barbican
Dogme drama Festen adapted for stage
How gratuitous would everyone would have found this if the film had never existed?
Bane sailing
There’s got to be some sort of price to pay for being so fabulous
Can arias ever be the reel deal?
Most film adaptations have been pale imitations weighed down with charmless music
Tawdry tales
The Tales of Hoffmann, Royal Opera House
Most Read
The Book of JO’B
James O’Brien’s aggressive incuriosity is becoming ever more embattled as his worldview crumbles
I don’t trust the British state
British institutions simply are not functioning in the interests of the people they are meant to serve
The rise and fall of Nicola Sturgeon
The former SNP leader squandered her talents in a classic tale of hubris
Nigel Farage, community leader
The logic of multiculturalism is turning on its architects
The screaming spires
Oxford University must clarify where it stands on academic freedom
From triple lock to price caps
Opinium polling for The Critic reveals the totemic pension policy has entrenched a politics that demands control over growth
Reform has the real “Shadow Cabinet”
Establishment gatekeeping is as futile as it is absurd
Why do we hate industry?
Performative laissez-faire has been a failure. It’s time for a new policy
The case against Project Spire
The Church of England should abandon this misleading and expensive exercise in virtue signalling
The great American dream
Beware the lure of the vast US market
“Fauxcest” is not a free speech issue
The government should ban this dangerous and disgusting genre
“Treatment” does not make child predators safe
People who abuse children must be kept away from children
Class war in the upper house
The end of the Lords’ ancient
right to resolve peerage disputes
is the latest casualty of Labour’s
constitutional vandalism
The simple joy of giallo
Giallo films made for glorious Italian escapism
Polish piano
Andre Tchaikowsky: Piano concertos (Ondine)
The dead-end art of conspiracy
Should art dissect conspiracy theories or immerse itself in them?