Fleabag heads back to Edinburgh Festival Theatre due to popular demand

CAN there be anyone yet to acquaint themselves with Fleabag, as performed by Phoebe Waller-Bridge?

Fleabag

If you are one of the few, then there’s a chance to get up to speed on Friday 15 November at the Festival Theatre, when it hosts the NT Live Encore screening of the hilarious, award-winning, one-woman show that inspired the BBC’s hit TV series.

Fleabag is described as 'a rip-roaring look at some sort of woman living her sort of life'. She may seem oversexed, emotionally unfiltered and self-obsessed, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. With family and friendships under strain and a guinea pig café struggling to keep afloat, Fleabag suddenly finds herself with nothing to lose.

The solo show played to sold-out audiences in New York and on London's West End around the same time that Waller-Bridge won an Emmy Award for best comedy series for the TV version. Less well known is that the birth of Fleabag was right here in Edinburgh, five years ago, when the performer debuted her character at the Fringe in a makeshift Cowgate venue.

Described by one critic as ‘Filthy, funny, snarky and touching,’ and by another as ‘Witty, filthy and supreme’, Fleabag is not for the easily embarrassed and it has certainly taken Waller-Bridge, who also wrote the piece on some journey.

The origins of the character lie in a challenge from a friend who urged her to do a 10-minute slot at a stand-up storytelling night - much of that approach is reflected in the play which was first performed in 2013 as a one-woman show at the Fringe. It arrived on TV screens in 2016 where Waller-Bridge was joined by Sian Clifford and Olivia Colman.

A second series and final series was broadcast earlier his year, by which time the screen cast included Bill Paterson as Fleabag’s dad and Andrew Scott as The Priest, with guest appearances from Fiona Shaw as Fleabag’s counsellor and Kristin Scott Thomas as Belinda, a successful businesswoman.

At the NT Live Encore screening, however, Waller-Bridge will flying solo once again. Filmed at London’s Wyndham’s Theatre earlier this year, this is the second time Fleabag will have been screened at the Festival Theatre, selling out all 1915 seats on the last occasion.

Make sure to book now.

Fleabag, Festival Theatre, Nicolson Street, Friday15 November, 7.30pm (running time 1 hour 15 minutes), £15, Age: 16+, 0131-529 6000