Interview: Phoebe Waller-Bridge Talks Bringing the Female Psyche Out of the Shadows and Into the Light in FLEABAG

The New York debut of the DryWrite and Soho Theatre production of Fleabag, produced by Annapurna Theatre, opens tonight, March 7, at Soho Playhouse (15 Vandam St.). Fleabag is written and performed by Phoebe Waller-Bridge, making her New York stage debut, and directed by Phoebe Waller-Bridge's long-time collaborator Vicky Jones. This is a strictly limited six-week engagement through Sunday, April 14, 2019.

After its sold-out run in London, Phoebe Waller-Bridge's award-winning comedic play, comes to New York for 6 weeks only. The play that inspired the hit television series, Fleabag is a rip-roaring look at some sort of woman living her sort of life. Fleabag 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 caf struggling to keep afloat, Fleabag suddenly finds herself with nothing to lose.

Right before previews began, Waller-Bridge chatted with BroadwayWorld about bringing the ground-breaking show to New York. Check out the full conversation below!

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So, your sold-out show Phenomenon Fleabag is coming to New York. How excited are you about that?

I don't think I've ever been more excited about anything. It's not only a dream come true, but it's also in my favorite city. I love it, I just love it.

I know that this whole process has been years in the making. What was your original inspiration to do this?

My original inspiration was to say the things that I feel like women normally only say in the shadows. Even though it wasn't actually a thought, I just think about the fact that conceptually at the time, I just had this kind of instinct like, "What if I said this?" and "What if I told the truth about this?" and said the things that I felt like my friends and I just quote all the time. The kind of sense of humor that I enjoy so much in my real life that we rarely get to perform onstage. That kind of really dark, angry, cynical sense of humor that Fleabag has. So it really just kind of amplifies all of that. And I also wanted to show a woman in emotional turmoil but without her just crying all the time. I just wanted to see her turmoil manifest in a more angry, interesting way. I really wanted to write an angry young woman. I feel like there's been so many angry young men - brilliantly written most - but in our theatrical and cinematic history, I felt like I really wanted to play an angry young woman.

When this was getting its start back in 2013, did you think that it would go on to have this incredible life?

I know, I've milked Fleabag for all it worth. It's still going! No, I mean, it's always the dream. But at that time it was so - our little producing company was just three of us. We had absolutely no money and we were just making it for the love of it. And you just hope it resonates and you hope people like it so you can convince yourself that you're not insane for thinking its worth spending all this time and your own money and that you have something that might not be doing anything for you and or anyone else. So I think that was the dream but then when it hit in Edinburgh and it had that impact. It just felt like we'd connected on such an amazing level to so many people. At each stage it felt like that. It was also very moving and galvanizing every time it seemed to reach more of an audience.

What kind of reaction have you been getting from audiences?

Well, there's a whole mix. In Edinburgh and London, before the TV show came out - obviously people know like the twists and stuff now - it was a very raw emotional response. People were just really emotional. There was one girl outside the theater who was like crying and her boyfriend came up to me and said, "My girlfriend's crying. She really enjoyed your show but she's crying and she doesn't really know why." And so I was like, "Okay, I kinda get it." I came up to talk to her and she was crying and I was like, "Why are you crying?" and she was like, "I don't know!" I think she felt the same way that I felt when I was writing it and working on it, with my director and producers. Like it felt a bit dangerous at the time to say those things and I felt the impact myself of like, "There's these darker shades of the female psyche." And outside of that, just knowingness, a female knowingness. We sort of pretend that we're innocent and adorable and like these perfect little creatures walking around the world but actually we have many, many other layers. I think the relief of that maybe inspired that moment. But mostly people just really laugh a lot. And then get a bit quiet at the end.

I know that you're working on a second season of the TV show, right?

It's actually finished! It goes out in the UK next week.

Is there anything you can share about where that season is going?

Yeah. It's a whole new journey for Fleabag. The Working Title for it was Fleabag vs. God. And Fleabag is kind of about Fleabag - she meets a priest. She's an atheist and he's Catholic. And he manages to kind of expand her mind in a way she didn't think was possible. I think it's really about Fleabag trying to find more meaning in the world. Andrew Scott plays the priest and he's absolutely brilliant.

Looking ahead at this five-week run that you have in New York, what are you, at this point, most excited about?

I'm just so crazy about this city that just being here - I feel excited just sitting in my living room! So that actual reality of going out onto these streets and being able to bring this character that I've lived with so closely for so long into such an intimate space. And to be able to sit there and just look into the eyeballs of every audience member and see how they relate to or react to Fleabag... I think that is the most exciting thing. That and being able to just walk around the city a bit. You're coming here going, "Let's just see what happens when this character says, 'This is New York'." I can't wait to see what happens.

FLEABAG was adapted into a BBC Television series in partnership with Amazon Prime in 2016 and earned Phoebe a BAFTA Award for Best Female Comedy Performance. The series was also nominated for a Gotham Independent Film Award, Television Critics Association Award and Critics Choice TV Award, among other accolades. The BBC and Amazon renewed the series for a second season, which will premiere in 2019.

Photo Credit: Jason Hetherington