Kate Stokes and Claudia Summers, better known as Stokes & Summers, can boast 2.3M Likes, and 55.6K Fans on Tik Tok. ‘Overnight’ lockdown sensations, the pair had been busy making, and touring comedy since 2018, but it was short skits made from their Covid bastions that hooked public, and industry attentions. Now they are due to debut a new show ‘Careering’ at this year’s Edinburgh International Fringe Festival, and the pair were kind enough to sit down to answer a few questions from yours truly.
📍Gilded Balloon Teviot – Turret
📅 Aug 3-14, 16-29
🕖 15:00
🕖 Running time (approx.): 1 hour
👥 Created by: Kate Stokes and Claudia Summers
💰 From £8.50
🎂 12+
🎭 Wheelchair Accessible, Wheelchair Accessible Toilets
Now, you’ve taken the relatively modern pathway into success within the performing arts. Could you tell me a little about that journey?
We met studying Drama at the University of Bristol – which we loved, but of course having a degree in Drama doesn’t necessarily guarantee success in such a competitive industry! After we graduated we developed and toured our first show, A Really Really Big Modern Telly, in 2016 and 2018, we both took Masters degrees (Claudia in Acting, Kate in Scriptwriting), and we continued to work on theatre and comedy projects together and individually, whilst juggling our day jobs. It was during the first lockdown that we started making online content (remotely – as we were locked down in different cities). At first our videos were only really getting noticed by our friends and families but eventually we succumbed to the urge to join TikTok, started making 60 second movie parodies, and before we knew it our videos were being watched by thousands of people around the world! Having the support of our online followers has really given us a boost and opened lots of doors for us, like the opportunity to work with Comic Relief, and now our Edinburgh Fringe debut!
This isn’t your first live venture, but your profile has been built on-line. When it comes to moving into a live auditorium, how do the challenges shift?
That’s a really interesting question. We absolutely love performing to live audiences. The main challenges in comparison to making online content are 1. creating a show that will hold the audience’s attention for 60 minutes rather than 60 seconds, 2: having that immediate response and hearing whether a joke lands or falls flat, 4: remembering everything… and 3: making sure that we give the audience their ticket money’s worth! People are paying to see us live, whereas online it’s all free – so that does create a bit more pressure!
Now the show, Careering, what have you drawn on to create the show?
We wanted to create a show where we could play a variety of roles and that would be relatable to lots of people – so we thought the workplace would be ideal, and we set it in a multi-company office block so that we could fill the building with all sorts of companies and characters. Being writer/performers in our late 20s, we’ve now had our fair share of working in a range of day-jobs while trying to pursue our creative ambitions, so we’re drawing on those experiences (e.g. crying under the desk) and the people we’ve come across. Although having said that, the characters are generally quite larger than life – so it’s definitely a heightened representation of the workplace!
Does the show have any particular message or theme?
There’s a main narrative involving two chalk-and-cheese temporary receptionists which explores the theme of ambition and the battle between following your dreams and facing reality, and it also celebrates co-worker relationships through their unlikely friendship which develops throughout. Another narrative looks at imposter syndrome, self-confidence, and the idea that you can ‘fake it till you make it’. In general, it’s a lot about the personas we put on in the workplace, how we interact with each other, and how the workplace can be a bit of a bonkers world.
Assuming you’ve worked in offices, what sort of office person were you?
Kate: I’ve actually worked in more customer service roles than offices – and I’m often the type of person who will answer the phone and be delightfully polite to a customer, then slam down the phone and call them a bloody idiot – which has been incorporated into my grouchy receptionist character. But for office work, I’m generally a very efficient worker, I make lots of to-do lists and rounds of tea, and I probably use far too many exclamation marks and smiley faces in my emails (basically, a people-pleaser.)
Claudia: I actually still work in an office as my day job, and I am generally quite annoying and distracting because I want to do anything other than the work I am being paid to do. I have been in various roles at this one company over the years (they have really supported me), so I think my colleagues accept that I am a bit of a goofball who tends to procrastinate, but also someone who works well under pressure and gets the job done. I also over-use exclamation marks!!!
What would you like your audiences to be thinking as they leave?
We’d like them to feel very amused and entertained, to feel like they’ve been able to identify and relate to some of the characters and situations, and to think about their attitude and relationship with work. We also want them to feel comforted; not many people have everything figured out. 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.
Will this be your first time playing the Edinburgh Fringe? How does preparing for Edinburgh differ from your other endeavours?
This will indeed be our Stokes & Summers Edinburgh Fringe debut! We’ve done Brighton Fringe twice before but on a much smaller scale and for much shorter runs. For this show, the creative process has been a fairly long one – we started developing our ideas back in October 2020, did our first work-in-progress performances in London and Bristol in October 2021, and are developing and previewing it throughout the Summer before August. We’ve also needed to raise a lot of money to fund going to the Fringe, and we’re incredibly grateful for the support of our crowdfunding backers. This financial support and the scale and prestige of Edinburgh has naturally increased the pressure to deliver quality work and so that is a bit nerve-wracking, but also a very exciting challenge.
Do you have any performing/comedy heroes? Do you expect to encounter any of them when in town?
Our icons are of course French & Saunders, as a double-act and as individual comedy legends. If we met them in Edinburgh we’d probably just malfunction because we’d be so starstruck. We do actually feel quite awkward about a review quote from FringeReview on our poster which says “Move over French & Saunders; Stokes & Summers are in town” – because (although very flattering) we feel it’s a little bit rude towards French & Saunders. If we got the chance to meet them we would probably say “sorry about that, our agent made us put it”.
Have you drawn domestic arrangements for your time in Edinburgh? Are you natural co-habiters?
We’ve booked a house for the month in Corstorphine, which is a little far out, but it is cheaper than the centre and we do enjoy riding the bus. The house also has a bath which is an essential for divas like us, and a garden in which we plan to have BBQs. We’ve never actually lived together but we’ve spent a huge amount of time together – usually in intense rehearsal/performance periods, so we know how to live with each other, it basically involves having a constant supply of tea, snacks, and wine.
Plans for ‘after’ Edinburgh?
Initially – rest. Maybe don’t talk to each other for a week (we’ll get withdrawal symptoms). And then, we don’t have any set plans – but we’d love the opportunity to tour the show nationally, we’d particularly love to do a run at Soho Theatre, and we’d also really love to make the leap onto TV!
What’s next for Stokes & Summers?
We’re performing at Latitude Festival just before Edinburgh Fringe, which we’re really excited about as we’re on a line-up with some of our favourite comedians like Aisling Bea and Tim Key. We have a few TikTok film parodies on our to-do list, and other than that… in the words of Natasha Bedingfield “the rest is still unwritten.”
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