Ambitious Gen Z investment bankers go rogue in two hander show debuting at Sydney Fringe Festival

In his second show with Sydney Fringe Fes2val, William Duke brings us Pure Risk – a darkly funny and delicious tale of primal ambi2on gone awry in the cu@hroat world of high finance.

Ever wondered what an2cs all those young employees in the background of Succession get up to? Or what would happen if a private school princess and her gay best friend got hired at one of the Big Four? Perhaps you just love to hate the banking world (even though you don’t really know how it works)? Well, this is the show for you!

Pure Risk follows Luke and Mia, second-year analysts at a top-2er investment bank. They’re the sort of bitchy best friend soulmates that laugh at everyone and everything that isn’t them. But crisis strikes when a video is leaked of one of their co-workers doing a racist Chinese accent…in their literal office.

Luke and Mia will work together to turn their bank’s PR disaster into an opportunity to get ahead, no ma@er the lies or cover ups demanded of them. They’re all in. But someone knows something something that is sure to destroy them if it ever comes out. How far will Luke and Mia go to keep their scheme from falling apart? And what cost?

THE VISION

Unlike other financial dramas, Pure Risk isn’t dealing with the men-in-suits and execu2ve-level business deals. This is a story about wide-eyed young people just coming into this industry, as we watch them become corrupted by power in real 2me. And what exactly does that corrup2on look like in our current moment?

The days of The Wolf of Wall Street are all but myth now. Crazy toxic work cultures are out of style. Now, these sorts of ins2tu2ons have all undergone a woke, progressive rebrand. Pure Risk confronts the troubling caveat here. What happens when progressive values become their own sort of currency? When corporate wokeism creates a whole new game for self-advancement?

Pure Risk’s creator William Duke is an emerging writer across stage and screen. His previous one-man show for SFF, Killing Mr. Barber, explored the world of private boys’ schools. He finds that giving an insider look into these contemporary worlds of power and privilege can help us confront the dark strand of human nature that emerge within them – those obsessions, rivalries, and games that make us all tick.

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Season Details

Venue: Emerging Ar2st Share House
Date: 19-23 Sept 2023

For more information click Here