April 2022 | Issue 26
“I have allergies, and he has learning difficulties. Then he has social anxiety, followed by someone whose glass is half empty, a guy with narcolepsy and an eternal optimist. We also have Doc, but he no longer sees patients face-to-face.”
thecritic.co.uk 11 Tufton Street, Westminster, SW1P 3QB editorial@thecritic.co.uk
B Y P A U L W O O D
C A R T O O N
THE CRITICS MUSIC NormanLebrecht A moralist and a musician 78 OPERA Robert Thicknesse You’ve seen your last Russian opera 79 POP Sarah Ditum Is Jeen-Yuhs disingenuous? 80 ART Michael Prodger Ilya Repin: Ukraine’s patriotic master 81 THEATRE Anne McElvoy Art as resistance 82 CINEMA Christopher Silvester Kyiv’s history on the screen 83 TELEVISION AdamLeBor The accidental president 84 RADIO Michael Henderson Join my Stop The Wark coalition 85 ARCHITECTURE Charles Saumarez Smith The Burrell’s beautiful upgrade 86
TABLE TALK Eating Out Lisa Hilton lingers over lunch at an unassumingly excellent establishment 89 Eating In Felipe Fernández-Armesto welcomes the return of the cricket tea
90
Country Notes Patrick Galbraith proposes a solution to Britain’s growing deer problem 92 Wine Christopher Pincher raises a glass of exquisite Tokaji to a departed friend 92 Root and Branch Hephzibah Anderson plans on pampering her rhubarb patch 94 Dealing Thomas Woodham-Smith says it’s “out with the old” as tastes change again 95 Style Hannah Betts mothballs her own personal V&A 96 Hot House Claudia Savage-Gore dreads Lyra’s school trips with the junior oligarchs 97
SACRED COWS Ben Fogle: Pukka prince of fluff by Patrick Galbraith 98
THIS SPORTING LIFE Boris Starling: Tales from the river 100 Nick Timothy: Love-hate relationship 101 Patrick Kidd: Singing Shane’s praises 102
The Critic is published by Locomotive 6960 Ltd © LOCOMOTIVE 6960 LIMITED 2020 Editorial Editor: Christopher Montgomery Deputy Editor: Graham Stewart Art Director: Martin Colyer Assistant Art Director: Charlotte Gauthier Production Editor: Nick Pryer Literary Editor: Paul Lay Online Editor: Sebastian Milbank Deputy Online Editor: Francesca Peacock Digital production: Kittie Helmick Writer-at-large: David Scullion Contributing Editors: Daniel Johnson, Roger Kimball, Toby Young, Alexander Larman Artists in Residence: Adam Dant, Miriam Elia Publisher: Olivia Hartley Subscriptions Annual Subscription rates: UK: £46, Europe: £52, Rest of World: £55 Subscription and delivery queries: The Critic Subscriptions, Intermedia Brand Marketing Ltd, Unit 6, The Enterprise Centre, Kelvin Lane, Crawley, West Sussex, RH10 9PE Telephone: 01293 312250 Email: thecritic@subscriptionhelpline.co.uk Web: thecritic.imbmsubscriptions.com Publishing Advertising: Joanna Holmes advertising@thecritic.co.uk Circulation & Marketing Consultant: Yvonne Dwerryhouse marketing@thecritic.co.uk Printing: Acorn Web Offset Limited, Normanton Industrial Estate, Loscoe Close, Normanton WF6 1TW Distribution: Intermedia Brand Marketing Ltd, Unit 6, The Enterprise Centre, Kelvin Lane, Crawley, West Sussex, RH10 9PE The Critic is registered as a trade mark (No UK00003433651), owned by Locomotive 6960 Ltd.
the critic 5 apr 2022