#Jade Franks#University of Cambridge#Class discrimination#Netflix adaptation#Edinburgh Fringe#Working class#Theatre#Footlights
📌 Key Takeaways
Jade Franks turned her experiences of classism at Cambridge into a successful play now adapted by Netflix
She worked as a cleaner while studying at Cambridge due to financial difficulties
The play 'Eat The Rich (but maybe not me mates x)' debuted at Edinburgh Fringe and received critical acclaim
Franks faced significant cultural barriers at Cambridge due to her working-class background
She became president of Footlights after a democratic voting system was implemented
📖 Full Retelling
Jade Franks, a working-class woman from Merseyside who cleaned toilets while studying at the University of Cambridge, has turned her experiences of class discrimination into a hit play that has been picked up by Netflix for adaptation. After graduating in 2021 with a degree in theatre and education, Franks wrote 'Eat The Rich (but maybe not me mates x),' an autobiographical work about her time at Cambridge where she faced cultural barriers due to her working-class background. The play, which debuted at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival last summer to critical acclaim, explores the challenges she faced as the daughter of a carer and factory worker navigating an environment steeped in privilege and tradition. Franks' journey from cleaning university buildings to having her work adapted by Netflix highlights the persistent issues of classism in higher education and the arts. Franks' path to Cambridge was unconventional. Working in a call center when she received her acceptance, she had previously been offered a place at drama school but couldn't afford the fees. Through an outreach worker at Cambridge, she secured a spot in the theatre and education program, arriving at the university a few years older than her peers. It wasn't her age that made her feel like an outsider, however, but her working-class background. She recalls dinners conducted in Latin, classmates mimicking her Scouse accent, and being mocked for bringing grated cheddar to a party. The classism was so pronounced that she nearly left the university multiple times. One particularly humiliating incident involved her sister visiting for a formal dinner. When her sister, dressed in 'big heels and an off-the-shoulder blouse,' was told by a professor that she wasn't dressed appropriately and had to leave, Franks describes the subsequent solution as 'so dehumanising and steeped in misogyny'—the professor covered her sister with an academic gown. While her classmates focused on exams and social events, Franks struggled financially, unaware she was eligible for a grant until her final year. She secretly worked as a cleaner and for a punting company, violating university rules that students shouldn't work to focus on their studies.
Class discrimination, also known as classism, is prejudice or discrimination on the basis of social class. It includes individual attitudes, behaviors, systems of policies and practices that are set up to benefit the upper class at the expense of the lower class.
Social class refers to the grouping ...
The University of Cambridge is a public collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the world's third-oldest university in continuous operation. The university's founding followed the arrival of scholars who left the University of Oxford for ...
The Edinburgh Festival Fringe, often referred to as the Edinburgh Fringe or simply the Fringe, is the world’s largest performing arts festival. In 2025, it ran for 25 days, selling over 2.6 million tickets, and featured 53,942 performances of 3,893 shows across 301 venues, with participants from 68 ...
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Original Source
'I cleaned toilets while studying at Cambridge' 22 minutes ago Share Save Charlie Jones Share Save Jade Franks was working in a call centre when she was accepted to the University of Cambridge. She felt like her life was back on track. Growing up, she was ambitious and academic. She had been offered a place at drama school but was unable to afford the fees. Sick of her nine-to-five job, she found the email address for an outreach worker at Cambridge, who helped her get on a degree course in theatre and education. Franks was a few years older than her fellow students when she arrived. But it was her working class background rather than her age that made her feel like an outsider. Dinners were conducted in Latin. The men tied jumpers around their necks and the women did not get glammed up for a night out, unlike Jade in her high heels and fake lashes. They mimicked her scouse accent (she grew up in Merseyside, the daughter of a carer and factory worker). They questioned what school she went to and laughed when she brought a bag of grated cheddar to a party, to contribute to the cheeseboard. "I felt really alone at times and I nearly left. The classism surprised me, I didn't expect people to make all these assumptions about me," she says. 'It was so messed up' Jade recalls the time her sister visited her at university and tried to join her for a formal dinner in her halls of residence, only to be embarrassed by a professor. "She had big heels on and an off the shoulder blouse. It looked really fancy, I think she looked great, but one of the professors came over to me and said 'she's going to have to leave'. "We thought he was making a bad joke so we started awkwardly laughing but then he said: 'No, she's not dressed appropriately, she has to go home and get changed.' "We said that wasn't possible so he went and got a gown and put it over her and covered her up, which was so dehumanising and steeped in misogyny. She already didn't feel like this place was for her, it wa...
