Brighton, Rejoice! It is officially our time to see the multi award-winning, hilarious, truthful and downright great play that is Fleabag. You may recognise the name from the extremely popular BBC TV series of the same name. Since its inception, Phoebe Waller-Bridge has risen to fame for her provocative, emotionally unfiltered and emotional tale of what it means to be a young woman in this day-and-age. The one-woman monologue shows fleabag as she tackles the realities of her life. The relationship with her family and friends is under strain, her brain is running at 100 miles an hour and she runs a guinea-pig themed cafe after a last minute present choice led to her best friends obsession with the tiny animal. She is all of us in some way and that’s why it’s enamoured so many people. In this rendition, Vicky Jones directs and Maddie Rice will be taking to the stage to perform the “penetrating, pitch-black and nastily brilliant” piece.
With five-star reviews pretty much across the board from The Guardian, Metro, WhatsOnStage, Evening Standard and so much more. Waller-Bridge’s writing in Fleabag (and beyond) is engaging. She said herself of the piece “I think this has resonated, and I have thought about this a lot, it felt very authentic to all of us making this show and when I was writing it I felt as though there was something truthful about this woman’s life, this woman’s aim, this woman’s humour. The character has such a front. A front that is so well designed to entertain and to deflect anyone’s attention and I think people can relate to that. She’s hiding so much with this real bravado. I think especially in cities and especially women, we can have this kind of outer shell of ‘i’m absolutely fine I can deal with this and more than that I can make jokes through it. I can be knowing and clever and smart but also having this tremor underneath of…but i’m so lonely (laughs) and so sad (laughs) and I want more from the sex in my life, I want more from the relationships with my family or friends” and I think it’s that, I think it’s that which has resonated with people. I think people could see how hard she working to hide that.”
From Tuesday 5th to Saturday 9th of June you can see this ground-breaking piece of work yourself. Phoebe Waller-Bridge managed to capture the emotions we all feel in a way that we can’t quite express ourselves. She put into words the indescribable wealth of emotion you feel as a young woman in the world and for that, this is an absolute must-see for anyone and everyone. Grab a ticket here.
