29th July 2022
Up-and-coming double act Stokes & Summers preview their new show Stokes & Summers: Careering at the Bristol Improv Theatre ahead of their Edinburgh Festival Fringe debut.
Fresh from working with Comic Relief, the Evening Standard Tik Tok Breakout Star nominees celebrate and satirise the quirks and perks of the modern workplace. Kate Stokes and Claudia Summers first performed together as Bristol University drama students. They earned rave reviews for their first touring show, A Really Really Big Modern Telly, at venues including the Brighton Fringe. Critics declared them “highly talented actor-comedians” (Fringe Review) and “definitely ones to watch” (Funny Women).
In 2020 their podcast sketches were regularly featured on BBC Radio Bristol, and in the pandemic lockdowns they built a strong social media presence. Their 60 second film parodies gained 15 million views and more than 55,000 followers on TikTok. Last year they were shortlisted for the Evening Standard TikTok Breakout Star Award and the Funny Women Content Creator Award. They recently collaborated with Comic Relief on a parody of Notting Hill, ‘Not-Notting Hill’, which concluded with an appearance by the hit film’s writer, Richard Curtis.
Kate and Claudia are thrilled to be back live on stage in Stokes & Summers: Careering. Audiences will be introduced to Hades House, a multi-company office block where every floor is full of stories, every office is full of oddballs, and behind every desk sits someone dealing with their demons. Playing characters from tempestuous temps to anxious accountants, Stokes & Summers explore contemporary attitudes to work, the struggle to juggle work-life balance, and the conflict between following your dreams and paying the bills.
Both have been acting and performing since 2015, and Kate Stokes was lead writer and a performer in Bristol-based company Riddlestick Theatre’s The Cabinet of Madame Fanny Du Thé, listed as one of The Guardian’s Best Shows at the Edinburgh Festival 2018. The pair previously performed a work-in-progress version of Stokes & Summers: Careering at The Wardrobe Theatre back in October 2021 and are now back in Bristol with an even bigger, better version.
Stokes & Summers: Careering is at the Bristol Improv Theatre at 8pm on Friday 29th July. Tickets are £12 (£10 early bird) and can be booked here: Stokes & Summers: Careering – The Bristol Improv Theatre
Age guidance: 12+
Venue address: 50 St Paul’s Road, Clifton, Bristol BS8 1LP
Photo credit: Beth Clarence
