Now that’s what I call Bach, The Actors Theatre, Brighton Fringe

(Photo Credit: Tasmin Sarkany)

The marvellous. The amiable. The extraordinary  Amelia Crotchet has entered the building and is taking to the stage for this momentous occasion. Yes,  it all comes down to this: a solo violin performance of Bach’s 'Chaconne'. One question remains…Can she stop being distracted enough to actually play the piece? 

This show is written and performed by Tasmin Sarkany, who was a Musical Comedy Awards finalist in twenty twenty three. She also won third prize in West End New Act Of The Year in twenty twenty four and was shortlisted for the BBC New Comedy Awards in twenty twenty five. This show started out as a WIP at the Leicester Comedy Festival last year, before making its official debut at the Brighton Fringe this year. It is currently being performed as part of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. 

I saw this show on the recommendation of a friend and I’ll be honest, my immediate thought was ‘ohmygod how am I going to understand this show? I know more about ‘Tetris’ than I do about classical music-ahhhh!’. My second thought was ‘the title of the show is filled with so much twenty tens nostalgia, I am intrigued’…

I ended up seeing the show with someone who knows more about this subject than I do and we both came to the same conclusion. You don’t need to know about classical music to enjoy the show! If you’re a classical music fan, it's full of nerdy quavers to snack on (That’s how quavers work, right?) ; If you are as clueless about it as I am, you’ll come to the realization that you probably know, or at least recognise, more references than you think you do. 

It is a bold move to begin the show with bows, but it is an absolutely genius way of establishing both the character of Amelia Crotchet and the level of audience participation we can expect. Sarkany absolutely has the electric charisma to pull it off well meaning that, as someone who doesn’t particularly enjoy audience participation outside of pantomimes, I found myself becoming more and more keen to get involved with this. 

Snappy comic timing combines with musical performance in a frankly staggering way. I end up with a bit of a sore throat from laughing so much, it's a good job I’m not a singer. Not to mention how mesmerising her music playing is. 

Sarkany really is an absolute tour de force with the brain of a quick-witted comedian and the heart of a gifted musician. Her show is musical comedy mastery, it’s as if Bach got drunk writing a music sheet and Amelia Crotchet decided to take over, I seriously cannot recommend it enough. 

***** Five Stars

Age rating: Fourteen plus

Content notes: Audience Participation, two mentions of infidelity in non-human relationships

For more information and tickets for the run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival: https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/tasmin-sarkany-now-that-s-what-i-call-bach