Now is your chance to see the multiple award-nominated, viral smash hit Stokes & Summers at the Edinburgh Fringe.
“An abundance of comedy talent” – Broadway Baby
In the immortal words of Britney Spears: ‘You want a Lamborghini? Sippin’ martinis? Look hot in a bikini? You better work, bitch.’ Stokes and Summers don’t necessarily want Lamborghinis, they just want to pay rent.* Evening Standard TikTok Star and Funny Women Award nominees, Stokes & Summers, present a new show about the quirks and perks of the modern workplace. ‘Two highly talented actor-comedians that have potential to take the world of comedy theatre by storm!’ (FringeReview.co.uk on A Really Really Big Modern Telly). *They’d also like to sip martinis, but that’s beside the point.
We’re all promised a dream of swanky offices, colleagues who feel like your best friends, interesting work that gets your brain buzzing and actually utilises that hard-earned education, quickly climbing the gilded career ladder to some kind of starry success.
Careering is the kind of show you wish you had seen before you started working. Fact is, life in an office can be a bit tedious, especially when you’d rather be on a stage, a yacht, or a publicity tour of your best-selling novel. But if you didn’t laugh about it, you would cry (potentially while hiding in the stationery cupboard). So Stokes & Summers are here to make us laugh.
Careering is set in a multi-company office block where all sorts of companies work, with Kate and Claudia bringing to life an assortment of eccentric characters around the building – from the grumpy receptionist to the intense workaholic CEO to the mysterious musical lift operator. There are the chalk and cheese receptionists at the front desk who are both grappling with the challenge of pursuing their true ambitions – a narrative which culminates in a showbiz canteen talent show finale – and a dog-walker who is accidentally hired as a wellbeing consultant and who ends up helping a cripplingly nervous accountant learn how to say no. These narratives sit alongside stand-alone sketches that are utterly relatable but utterly bonkers, including horoscope-based interviews and the perils of hot-desking etiquette.
It started in 2015 when Kate and Claudia collaborated on a show as part of their dissertation at University of Bristol, but it was the pandemic that put Stokes & Summers on the radar of tens of thousands of people. They started making comedy videos online (because what other option was there in 2020?) which soon blew up on TikTok, and several of their sketches were featured on BBC Radio Bristol. In 2021 their 60 second movie parodies became very popular on TikTok (and now Instagram too), seeing them shortlisted for the Evening Standard TikTok Breakout Star Award and the Funny Women Comedy Content Creator Award. They also collaborated with Comic Relief on a parody of Notting Hill for Red Nose Day 2022, at the request of Richard Curtis who also made a cameo appearance.
Careering explores the pressures and challenges of the modern workplace in a fun and silly way that will make you wonder if your texts to your best mate have been hacked. As Claudia says “Following dreams can be difficult in this modern world, but everyone deserves to give it a good go, and we’re here to have a laugh about it with everyone along the way.”
Details
Venue: Gilded Balloon Teviot in The Turret
Dates: 3rd – 29th August (except 15th)
Time: 15:00
Duration: 60 mins
Tickets: Monday – Thursday | Full Price £10.50, Concession £9.50
Friday – Sunday | Full Price £11.50, Concession £10.50
Link: https://tickets.edfringe.com/
