A LOCHGELLY based social enterprise is aiming to use comedy to get important messages over to people of all ages.

Suit and Pace is a community theatre company, specialising in comedy and from their Main Street premises (above the Cup Cake shop at the junction with Church Street) they hope to develop what they can offer from a very encouraging start.

Beth Cardus and Andrew Coull met at Edinburgh University almost ten years ago and by 2012 they were spending all of their spare time on their venture which uses comedy in a whole raft of avenues, many of which are indeed very serious.

But as the duo said this week their connections with BRAG, at the Crosshill Centre, encouraged them to turn their idea into a community enterprise.

Said Beth, “We spent a lot of time from 2012 onwards organising storytelling for children and sessions for adult audiences and we were luck enough to receive a lot of opportunities through the Fife Cultural Trust but we found it hard to combine all the opportunities we were getting with our daytime jobs.” Andrew added, “We linked up with Sarah Somerville at BRAG who gave us the impetus to create a social enterprise and we took the plunge in July and set up here in Lochgelly, which is a very central base, with us finding a lot of work in different parts of Fife.” Beth went on, “We aim to educate, entertain and engage audiences through tackling serious issues with humour. Suit and Pace is a social enterprise with charitable status and we are there to work with all age groups”.

Said Andrew, “We develop, write and perform sketches, storytelling sessions, improvised pieces and short plays.

“We perform in various settings, such as at schools, in the community, at events, and also offer training and workshops, as well as filmed work and podcasts.

“We can perform our existing pieces, or create a new performance, according to any specification our clients want, and can develop this with input from a client group.

“We work extensively in Fife but are happy to take our work across Scotland”.

Their motto is Educate, Entertain and Engage and it is something that has seen them very busy being asked to work with people at mental health workshops, in care homes and people with additional support needs, as well as their storytelling sessions taking them from school classrooms to the streets of the towns of Fife.

“We tour local schools with our work, aiming to tackle issues affecting children and young people in a new, fun way. Examples include Head to Head, a local schools tour run in partnership with SAMH, focusing on young people’s mental wellbeing and Sanctuary Stories “We really enjoy the storytelling sessions with young people which can see important messages got over to them in a way which they enjoy,” added Beth, “but to be honest we just love working with people to help them in any way we can.” Beth and Andrew are hoping to develop their client base in the coming months and would love to hear from any community organisations who might want to tap into what they can offer. “Groups can contact us and we can give them a few ideas which might help them get their messages across through the use of comedy,” said Andrew, “We are open to any enquiries.” Contact Beth and Andrew at info@suitandpace.com