Careering When Your Career Is A Sh*tshow. Hello everyone, I hope you are well. In today’s post, I will be sharing a Press Release of a new comedy show by Stokes & Summers. Stokes & Summers are Kate Stokes and Claudia Summers. Their comedy partnership began in 2015 at the University of Bristol, where they studied BA in Drama: Theatre, Film and Television. Their debut show was A Really Really Big Modern Telly (and Other Really Really Big Modern Stories), which they toured to festivals including Brighton Fringe in 2016 and 2018.
We’ve all been there. A dream job that turns out to be a nightmare. Whilst the rest of us were pranging out about it, Stokes & Summers were making a show about it – one that went viral during the lockdown. 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 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.
Careering When Your Career Is A Sh*tshow
“They take a big swipe at modern-day life and show us the ludicrousy of our obsessions” – LondonTheatre1
You might have seen them on TikTok. Possibly watched their Comic Relief sketch with Richard Curtis. Caught them on stage in Bristol or London. I wondered who that girl was in the IKEA ad. 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-comedian that have the 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 and colleagues who feel like your best friends. Exciting work that gets your brain buzzing and utilises that hard-earned education, quickly climbing the gilded career ladder to some starry success.
Careering
Careering is the kind of show you wish you had seen before you started working. Life in an office can be a bit tedious, especially when you’d rather be on a stage, on 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. Kate and Claudia bring 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. The chalk and cheese receptionists at the front desk are both grappling with the challenge of pursuing their true ambitions.
A narrative culminates in a showbiz canteen talent show finale. 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.
Started in 2015
It started in 2015 when Kate and Claudia collaborated on a show as part of their dissertation at the University of Bristol. Still, the pandemic 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 laugh about it with everyone along the way.”
Details
Venue: Gilded Balloon Teviot in The Turret, Edinburgh Fringe, 13 Bristo Square, Edinburgh, UK.
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/
I hope you enjoyed that.
Talk Soon
Artist bio
Artist bioStokes & Summers are Kate Stokes and Claudia Summers. Their comedy partnership began in 2015 at the University of Bristol, where they studied BA in Drama: Theatre, Film and Television. Their debut show was A Really Really Big Modern Telly (and Other Really Really Big Modern Stories), which they toured to festivals including Brighton Fringe in 2016 and 2018. In 2018 they made a short comedy film called Felicity & Fran. In 2020 they made their first podcast pilot, The Stokes & Summers Sketch Show.
Website: stokesandsummers.wordpress.com
Instagram: @stokesandsummers
Twitter: @stokesnsummers
TikTok: @stokesandsummers
