EDINBURGH 2026: Aidan Jones: CHOPIN'S NOCTURNE Q&A

BWW catches up with Aidan Jones to chat about bringing Chopin's Nocturne to the 2026 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Tell us a bit about Chopin’s Nocturne.

Chopin's Nocturne is a stand up comedy show about classical music, which sounds like the worst thing ever but it's actually fantastic and you (yeah YOU) will absolutely love it. I've been a comedian for 15 years now, and really this show is just a bunch of jokes I wrote and cool stories I found about my favourite piece. The idea is if I can put the music into context, then when I play it people will actually want to listen to me, rather than just politely waiting for me to finish ahaha

How did the COVID-19 lockdown help you rediscover your love of piano?

When lockdown hit it devastated me. I'd spent a decade building my life around stand-up comedy, and then it was gone and as dramatic as this sounds, I felt like I didn't know who I was without it. I went back to the things I did before starting comedy to see if I couldn't find the same feeling of artistic expression and freedom from them, and as it happens, piano really stuck for me. It really changed the way I think about stand-up too, like when you play piano you're kind of in conversation with the instrument you're working with and you have to be aware of the peculiarities of that instrument - its sound, its feel and everything about it. Stand-up is the same but instead of an instrument you're in conversation with an audience. It's like playing a piano that whenever you play a wrong note it calls you a dickhead.

What makes your show a unique experience for those without much knowledge of classic music? 

I'm not at all a part of the classical music world. When I failed my audition for the conservatory the rejection hurt and I kind of bailed on the whole thing. When I fell back in love with the music and started trying to get my friends excited about it, I found the stuff they resonated with was personal details about Chopin's life, and then seeing how those things were expressed in the music. Once I leant into that stuff I found people could really get on board with the music, and that perspective is something I've tried to preserve in the show. I want it to be as enthralling for someone whose never come across this music before as it would be for someone who plays it every day of their life.

How has performing across Australia, Europe and Asia influenced your performance?

I've always tried to make my act as accessible as possible, I don't like the idea of spending ages working on a joke that won't make sense as soon as I get in front of a foreign audience. Sometimes local references are really useful, but I tend to think that those kinds of things are usually a sort of cultural shorthand for a deeper, more universal feeling. Rather than just stop at the reference, it can be really rewarding to try and dig deeper - what do I mean by that? What feeling does this joke speak to? And how can I articulate thst in a way that people from multiple cultures and backgrounds will resonate with?

Then again sometimes you just need to make a joke about Kim Beazley.

What would you like audiences to take away from the show?

I want them to be inspired to listen to classical music and learn about the incredible artists from history who they may have heard about but never taken the time to investigate! I want them to remember the things in their lives that they love and fight to make time for them. I want them to feel comforted in the knowledge that at every period in history people have faced adversity and hopelessness, and we have always continued to find beauty in the world. And I want them to tell their friends that Aidan Jones sure can play the shit out of that piano.

Photo credit: Darren Keane 

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