Miles Jupp: Fibber in the Heat (A Cricket Tale)

If you are visiting the Fringe with an American please take them to see Miles Jupp. They will be delighted. Any aspect of English culture that has disappointed – say, that we don’t all wear monocles and think the Queen’s “just spiffing” – will be forgiven. For what could make them feel more secure in their preconceptions than a self-deprecating Brit talking with a cut glass accent about his cricket obsession.

In 2005, Jupp’s acting career looked like it had peaked and was showing dangerous signs of spoiling his enjoyment of the Ashes. Enough was enough. If even an actor didn’t have time to catch a full Test series he’d have to find a new calling. Within a year he’d blagged his way onto the English team’s Indian tour and was sure he’d be a cricket correspondent.

As you’ve probably guessed from the fact that he’s currently at the Fringe, the journalism career didn’t go as planned. We should be grateful. For however erudite his description of an English batting collapse might have been, we would not have had this show.

Jupp poignantly and humorously captures that awful sense of desperation in knowing that you don’t belong somewhere. He is a wonderful storyteller and, while we might not share his passion, he makes it possible for us to understand his.

Even if the thwock of leather on willow holds no sentimentality for you or your transatlantic chum, you may still both have to concede that this is “bloody marvellous”.