It is the filthy, fiercely funny monologue that received mixed reviews when it was staged in a tiny venue at the Edinburgh festival in 2013. After six years, several revivals, two TV series and a sold-out run off-Broadway, Phoebe Waller-Bridge is to perform her play Fleabag for the last time. She will do so at Wyndham’s theatre in London’s West End for 30 performances over four weeks this summer. The news will delight those fans of the hit TV show who are still grieving over Waller-Bridge’s decision not to write a third series of Fleabag.
Written and performed by Waller-Bridge, and directed by Vicky Jones, Fleabag is an account of “some sort of woman living her sort of life”. Waller-Bridge received a Fringe First award in Edinburgh for the play, whose scenarios and characters formed the basis for its first series on TV. It followed the eponymous heroine’s disastrous cafe business, unruly sex life and struggle to deal with the death of her best friend.
The TV version made Waller-Bridge a household name and was soon followed by further success as a writer with her series Killing Eve. She returned to the role of Fleabag in 2016 at Soho theatre, which had played a key part in the solo show’s early success. Waller-Bridge has just finished performing the part in New York.
Fleabag will begin previews at Wyndham’s theatre on 20 August. Tickets go on sale at 3pm on Thursday, with 25% of tickets at £25 or less.
Before then, Waller-Bridge will be focusing on her next mission: livening up the script of the new James Bond film, at the special request of Daniel Craig.
