Books
Phoebe Waller-Bridge

Fleabag: The Special Edition (NHB Modern Plays)

Celebrate the incredible journey of Phoebe Waller-Bridge's outrageously funny, blazingly forthright Fleabag, from fringe theatre hit to international cultural phenomenon, in this special edition — featuring the original playscript, never-before-seen colour photos, and exclusive bonus content by Phoebe, director Vicky Jones and key members of the creative team.
In 2013, Fleabag made its debut as a one-woman show in sixty-seater venue the Big Belly, at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe's Underbelly. It was an immediate hit, going on to enjoy two runs at London's Soho Theatre, national and international tours, whilst picking up prizes including Critics' Circle, The Stage, Fringe First and two Off West End Theatre Awards, plus an Olivier Award nomination.
The 2016 TV adaptation propelled Fleabag and Phoebe to worldwide fame, earning critical acclaim and further accolades including Writers' Guild, Royal Television Society and BAFTA Television Awards. A second series, nominated for eleven Emmys, followed in 2019, along with a sold-out run of the original play in New York.
This special edition was released alongside Fleabag's first West End run at Wyndham's Theatre, London. It is introduced by Deborah Frances-White, stand-up comedian, writer and host of The Guilty Feminist podcast.
'Throbs with a concentrated, combustible vitality… Fleabag keeps all contradictory shards and shades of feeling in play at the same time. That's why it's so gloriously disruptive' — The New York Times
'Never has being a modern woman seemed so painfully funny, brutal, and hopeless all at once' — The Atlantic
'Filthily funny… the character is a fascinatingly complex creation' — Guardian
'Sucker-punch funny… I've never seen a play quite like it' — Scotsman
'It has the pinpoint observational comedy of great standup, the fearless honesty and shamelessness of a raw confessional and the subtlety to draw you in… both gut-bustingly funny and gut-wrenchingly sad' — The Hollywood Reporter
'Filthy, funny, snarky and touching' — Telegraph
'A legitimately hilarious show' — The New Yorker
'Frank and sometimes brutally funny… devastatingly good' — The Times
'Phoebe Waller-Bridge's one-woman show Fleabag is unbelievably rude, astoundingly filthy and she's almost certainly going to go to hell for it' — Time Out
'Penetrating, pitch-black and nastily brilliant' — Metro
'Funny, vibrant, and blunt as a hammerhead' — New York Magazine
81 printed pages
Copyright owner
Bookwire
Original publication
2019
Publication year
2019
Have you already read it? How did you like it?
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Impressions

  • Molly K.shared an impression4 years ago
    👍Worth reading

Quotes

  • Juan Carlos Francohas quotedlast month
    Fleabag’s primal scream to feminists is that she is the human deep inside each woman, when the burdensome luggage of gendered expectations is stripped away. She is our hunger to be desired, our desire to be adored and our mistakes that cannot be erased by a million pencil-rubbers. She is our lust, our hypocrisy and our painful longing to be better.
  • L Ahas quoted6 months ago
    I would say that the design is the embodiment of the KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid) principle, which for the character of Fleabag is perfect in many ways.
  • L Ahas quoted6 months ago
    ’d worked at the Edinburgh Festival in some capacity every year since I was seventeen so was confident I had a handle on how to lay the foundations for a successful show, even if we didn’t know what it was yet: a bold image (‘Let’s put Phoebe in a Batman suit on the roof of a building at 5 a.m. and take a picture for the poster’), the right time-slot (‘Let’s put the show on at 9.30 p.m. so we’re a funny theatre alternative to all the stand-up’), interesting copy (‘Let’s make sure we include the phrases “porny-wank” and “lovely threesome” in the marketing blurb’), the right venue (‘Let’s go to a space with a small capacity so we can definitely sell all the tickets’). I’m not saying that all those things made Fleabag the success it was in Edinburgh, but they definitely gave us a good head start.

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