The revolution will not be televised, but maybe it will start in a packed suburban theatre on a Sunday afternoon, and perhaps Jade Franks will be at its head. This is a story of a call centre worker from Liverpool who decides she wants to go to university, Oxbridge to be precise. Once she works out where that is.

Heaps of hard work land Franks a coveted place at Cambridge, where she’s soon surrounded by the Hugos and Cressidas of the upper classes. Almost everything she experiences underlines the differences between her and, well, everyone else, from the big (she has to hide her job as a cleaner because Cambridge students are not allowed to work; that this places less well-off students in an impossible position seems to have passed the uni authorities by) to the small (dressing up to go clubbing is very Scouse. It is not very posh). This is all wrapped-up in a razor-sharp script that drops truth-bomb after truth-bomb with the precision of a well-aimed missile. Franks’ gift, though, is that she delivers this in such an engaging way. She never misses a beat and you want to become Jade’s friend: that Jilly, Tilly and Milly did not is absolutely their loss.

Of course, the British, or rather the English, obsession with class is well-documented. There’s no doubt this is a very English story: perhaps not every nuance will land with an Australian audience. But snobbery, struggle and the desire to be seen as an individual, rather than a stereotype, is universal and there is plenty to enjoy and think about in Franks’ debut show, not least her exceptional performance.

Eat The Rich (But Maybe Not Me Mates x), Holden Street Theatres, until 22 March; picture: Holly Revell.

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