Jade Franks's one-woman show at the Pleasance Courtyard is a blistering satire on class privilege, blending deep rage with deadpan wit. The Cambridge undergraduate, with glittery nails and gold platforms, is far from the typical Oxbridge image – and that is precisely the point.
Franks, a working-class Liverpudlian, draws from her own experience. Working in a call centre, she applied to Oxbridge despite not even knowing where it was. After an outreach programme, she moved south early, taking a cleaning job to get by.
The show, directed by Tatenda Shamiso, is a culture-clash comedy in the tradition of Pygmalion and Educating Rita. Franks's deadpan wit delivers joke after joke, but the driving force is anger at being patronised, having her accent mocked, and seeing students blind to their privilege who will one day become politicians.
Eat the Rich is more than one woman's story; it is a damning portrait of a dysfunctional social order. As Franks leads the rallying cry, this revolution promises to be a right good laugh.
