Daily Mail - 21.08.2019

Daily Mail, Wednesday, August 21, 2019 Page 
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A particularly bad feminist at

that. When a lecturer asks who

would trade five years of their

life to have a ‘so-called perfect

body’, Fleabag is still the only

woman to raise her hand.

It has been six years, almost to

do the day, since Phoebe Waller-

Bridge introduced her damaged

but defiant heroine at the

Edinburgh Festival.

Since then there have been two

hit BBC television series, many

awards, international fame and a

buzz that just won’t go away.

Now Fleabag is back at the

Wyndham’s Theatre in London

for a sell-out limited run, before

the curtain falls for ever on the

swashbuckling antics of this

sexual adventuress. And at the

first preview last night, the

unmistakable grip of Fleabag

fever was in the air.

Before the show began, fans

queued up to have their photos

taken next to the theatre’s Flea-

bag posters, whilst sitting in the

packed audience at curtain-up felt

like being among the excited

members of a Fleabag cult.

Throughout the duration of the

65-minute show, the Fleabaggers

were transfixed, they were

delighted with themselves, they

were high on the giddy joy of

simply being there – and manag-

ing to secure one of the hottest

tickets in the capital. They

laughed during Fleabag’s jokes,

they laughed after the jokes,

sometimes they even laughed

before the jokes. Which was, to be

honest, a bit annoying.

A

T LEAST the show was

brilliant, as you might

expect. This is the

embryonic unplugged

Fleabag, the one-woman show

which begat the hit series

that came later. But if the story

was familiar, at least the retelling

of it was entertaining. Sitting

on a red chair on a bare stage,

Waller-Bridge proved to be an

accomplished live performer,

here called upon to act out the

roles of her sister and her father

and even her hideous brother-in-

law, Martin.

It was a bit of a shock to discover

that she had originally envisaged

him, with all his disgusting perver-

sions and damp hands, to be Scot-

tish. We were treated to the

jumper and bra gag and much

cheery talk of the guinea pig-

themed cafe and references to the

death of her beloved friend, Boo.

There was an early stumble on the

script. ‘I’m sorry, I’ll do that again,’

said Waller-Bridge before remind-

ing everyone of her best lines.

‘I’m not obsessed with sex, I just

can’t stop thinking about it,’ she

said. I’d forgotten about her origi-

nal boyfriend, who leaves her

because he is fed up of her porn

habit. He packs up his clothes and

takes all the food from the fridge.

‘I was thrilled by his selfishness.

Suddenly I fancied him again,’

she said.

T

HErE are moments in

Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s

monologue when she

comes across like that

arch-klutz Miranda and even

sounds, now and again, like

Victoria Wood.

But as the evening progresses

we discover that not everything in

Fleabag’s life is quite as funny as

she pretends, and that her grief

and guilt are never far below the

surface. What is most interesting

is that with this bare bones early

production we can see, in all its

starkness, the emotional precision

of Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s writing,

plus her winning, quicksilver

performance.

‘I have a horrible feeling,’ she

says, ‘that I am a greedy, per-

verted, selfish, apathetic, cynical,

depraved, morally bankrupt

woman who can’t even call herself

a feminist.’

No wonder so many women

remain adoring fans. Fleabag

speaks to everyone who worries

how to be, and also how to be

enough. And no wonder the cult

absolutely loved it, roaring their

approval at the end.

W

EArINg a red

jumper, down-home

jeans and a pair of

loafers, Fleabag has

returned to the

stage for one last hurrah. Much

has happened since we saw her

last, but her siren song remains

the same; men, boys, porn, love,

death, social embarrassments

beautifully observed, plus what it

means to be a feminist.

jan

moir

Bags the hottest

ticket in town

Back on stage: Phoebe Waller-Bridge stars in the new production of her one-woman play that inspired two successful television series

Fleabag fever!

Phoebe drives

West End wild

in farewell show

Pictures: EYEVINE

Page 

d t o s ccessf l tele ision series

Daily Mail, Wednesday, August 21, 2019

B k t Ph b W ll B id t i th

Pic

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es

: EYEVINE

...and her James Bond f ilm f inally gets a name

AFTER months of drama, disaster and

delays, the new James Bond movie – co-

written by Phoebe Waller-Bridge – finally

has a name: No Time To Die.

It is the 25th film in the 007 franchise,

with Daniel Craig, 51, playing the MI6 agent

for the fifth and – he says – final time. Chief

among many setbacks was the resigna-

tion of Oscar-winning director Danny

Boyle weeks before filming began due to

‘creative differences’. He was replaced by

American Cary Joji Fukunaga.

It has also been claimed that the screen-

play has been subject to endless rewrites,

with Miss Waller-Bridge, the acclaimed

creator of Fleabag and adaptor of Killing

Eve, drafted in to help in later stages.

A source said: ‘They have an outline of

plot but the dialogue is all last-minute. It’s

not the way to make a movie.’ The title

was announced in a tweet saying: ‘Daniel

Craig returns as James Bond, 007 in... NO

TIME TO DIE. Out in the UK on  April 2020

and 8 April 2020 in the US.’

The film is the fourth in the 007 series

with death in the title, after Live And Let

Die (197), Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)

and Die Another Day (2002).