Fleabag, the multi-award winning production from Soho Theatre associate company DryWrite, returns home to our stage for two weeks only, from Monday 5 December, as part of Soho Theatre’s autumn season. Bringing together new voices, legendary names, the gender fluid, the impossible to define and those who won’t be silenced, the season includes Olivier, Fringe First and Edinburgh Comedy Award winners and nominees and Verity Bargate Award shortlisted new playwrights.
Turned into television’s must-see hit of the summer, Fleabag began as a one-woman show written and performed by Phoebe Waller-Bridge and directed by Verity Bargate Award winning Vicky Jones, DryWrite’s co-Artistic Directors. First previewing at Soho Theatre, following a successful sketch night of Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s early work, Fleabag made its highly acclaimed Edinburgh Festival Fringe premiere in 2013 before two sold out Soho Theatre runs and a national tour (performed by Maddie Rice).
Earlier this year, in the lead up to Soho Theatre’s major fundraising Gala, Phoebe Waller-Bridge spoke to Artistic Director Steve Marmion about what Soho Theatre meant to her:
“It’s impossible to get anything in front of an audience in this city without selling a limb. Soho Theatre gave me my acting (Roaring Trade) and my writing debut: the first collection of short plays I ever wrote was put on here and it felt like a really safe place for Fleabag to try out all her inappropriateness. Fleabag then went to Edinburgh before Soho brought it back and made it its home. Both have turned into TV shows (Crashing and Fleabag). That would never have happened if it wasn’t for the opportunity I had here to put my work on.”
In Fleabag the rules are out the window and she’s getting confused. She’s angry, pervy, confrontational, cruel, forgetful, flippant, capricious, but undeniably honest. On the stage over 65 minutes, Fleabag lets us see the world through her eyes as we follow her life, love, loss and heartbreak. This is comedy storytelling at its very best with all the unspoken nitty-gritty of real life. This is the portrait of a girl who isn’t afraid to admit what she thinks is wrong with herself.
Awards
WINNER: FRINGE FIRST AWARD 2013
WINNER: THE STAGE BEST SOLO PERFORMER 2013
WINNER: CRITICS’ CIRCLE MOST PROMISING PLAYWRIGHT 2013
WINNER: OFF WEST END AWARD FOR MOST PROMISING NEW PLAYWRIGHT 2013
WINNER: OFF WEST END AWARD FOR BEST FEMALE PERFORMANCE 2013
NOMINATED: OLIVIER AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN AFFILIATE THEATRE 2014
NOMINATED: EVENING STANDARD AWARD FOR MOST PROMISING PLAYWRIGHT 2013
SPECIAL COMMENDATION: SUSAN SMITH BACKBURN PRIZE 2013
