Review from the Women In Comedy festival

Though there have been some notable exceptions, from Victor Borge to Rainer Hersch, classical music has a reputation for taking itself so very seriously. 

Tasmin Sarkany’s alter ego, Amelia Crotchet, pokes fun at that stereotypical fusty decorum. She's a prim and proper practitioner of the violin, with the clipped vowels of a 1940s radio presenter and the haughty attitude of a governess. 

In Now That's What I Call Bach, her intention is to introduce both the composer and the wider world of classical music to the curious masses. Although you will learn something, being playful with the genre’s formality is the note she wants to hit.

Sarkany especially loves a pun, and most in this hour come with a musical twist, provided by snippets of well-known tunes or wordplay based on the names of notes. 

With the violin providing such melodic punchlines, the conceit is that this is a de facto double act, with the instrument anthropomorphised. Crotchet and Violin are also supposed to be in a romantic relationship, though that storyline is strained. 

The set-up is that this presentation will end with our host playing Bach’s Chaconne – though as a notoriously demanding and emotional 14-minute piece, it's definitely something she needs to build up to.

Hence a seasoning of Vivaldi first, and the odd silly impression, such as a seagull in an ambulance, or sketches such as the CBBC-opera mashup you never knew you wanted. 

Sarkany certainly likes to indulge in the occasional shenanigan – just the one, mind, as the plural would suggest extravagance. Notions like that play up the emotional repression of the firmly middle-class musician, in stark contrast to the heightened feelings conveyed by the music she loves. 

Similarly, Sarkany's erudite presentation emphasises the mismatch between the sophistication of the genre and the silliness of the wordplay. 

Her hour is low-impact, and there are definite lulls - such as the ‘interval’ designed for her not for us –  but the show, with its smugness baked into its conceit, works on its own restrained level. 

In addition, Sarkany’s musicianship is on point, and the Bach masterpiece, when it does arrive in abridged format, is properly moving. 

Now That's What I Call Bach is one for the classical music buffs, for sure, but also for anybody who enjoys bookish wordplay.

Review date: 12 Oct 2026
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett
Reviewed at: Manchester The Fitzgerald