NOT JUST A fleabag

It’s hard to describe Fleabag to someone who hasn’t seen it. The Guardian calls it ‘a hilarious sitcom about terrible people and broken lives’; the New York Times, ‘a sex comedy that is secretly a tragedy’. And in Late Show host Stephen Colbert’s opinion, it’s ‘the only perfect television show ever made’. Phoebe Waller-Bridge writes about grief, sex and self-loathing, but somehow it’s really funny. You’re laughing and following along, then bam – right when you least expect it, she lands an emotional gut-punch. ‘You’re not braced for the impact, and it’s a killer,’ says Vicky Jones, the director of Fleabag (the stage version).

Last year, Phoebe and Fleabag won six Emmys, including Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series, Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series and Outstanding Comedy Series. ‘I don’t think any of us could have imagined a night like that,’ she says. ‘It was full of love, and madness and vodka gimlets.’

Through most of her 20s, Phoebe struggled to land a job. ‘I went to RADA [Royal Academy of Dramatic Art] thinking I was quite a good actor and came out thinking I was appalling,’ she says. Stuck and unemployed, she started writing her own scripts, with one goal in mind: to play a character she could really relate to. Inspired by the cynicism she felt in her 20s, a touch of female rage and her childhood nickname, her one-woman show, Fleabag, was born.

‘A fleabag motel is a bit rough around the edges and a bit of a mess,’ she says. ‘I called her that because I wanted her persona and her outside aesthetic to give the impression that she was completely in control of her life, when actually, underneath, she’s not.’

Despite speculation,

Fleabag isn’t autobiographical, although there are similarities between Phoebe and her creation. During her Saturday Night Live monologue, she quipped: ‘People often assume that I’m like the character, Fleabag, simply because I wrote it: sexually depraved, foul-mouthed and dangerous. And I always have to say, “Yes, you’re absolutely right.”’

Fleabag started off as a one-woman play that was a massive hit during its debut run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Once it was adapted into a fourth-wall breaking TV show and picked up by BBC and Amazon in 2016, Phoebe couldn’t go anywhere without being recognised as the girl who ‘had a wank’ to Obama.

There aren’t many taboos Phoebe won’t tackle, but there is one thing she’s firmly said no to: a third season of Fleabag.

After two successful seasons, she’s decided to leave Fleabag to her own devices. ‘I quite like the idea of coming back to her when I’m 50 because I feel like she would have had more life then, and God knows what she would have gotten up to.’

While Fleabag is playful and personal, Phoebe’s other gem, Killing Eve, adds a morbidly humorous twist to the thriller series. Not only does she shake up the genre with an impressive female-led cast, but also enthralls audiences with the tense cat-and-mouse game between MI6 detective Eve and oddly endearing psychopathic murderer Villanelle. ‘They give each other life in a way that’s more complex than a romantic relationship,’ says Phoebe.

The character of Villanelle is a brilliant example of how three-dimensional Phoebe’s writing is. Rather than cold and calculating, Villanelle is child-like, with a twisted sense of humour you can’t help but love, and uses stereotypes about women as her weapons: she often plays the damsel in distress, using her beauty and charm to win over men and women alike; it’s what makes her an effective assassin.

‘The men in the show... haven’t for a second imagined [Villanelle] might be a threat,’ explains Phoebe. ‘Whereas every single woman in the world imagines for a split second that the man she’s about to go on a date with or the man she’s just met in the corridor might be a threat. That’s a calculation you make all the time that men don’t make

– and it’s catnip for Villanelle.’

Adapted from the Luke Jennings novel Codename Villanelle, Killing Eve also raked

JUNE 2020 / FAIRLADY 27

Breaking the fourth wall: Fleabag giving the audience a knowing look in Season 2.

in awards: a BAFTA for Best Drama Series in 2019, and actresses Sandra Oh, Jodie Comer and Fiona Shaw all took home statuettes too.

While her projects seem diverse, Phoebe reveals there’s a thread that ties them all together: intelligent, transgressive, rule-breaking women. Tired of seeing women sexualised and objectified in television, Phoebe finds it exciting to showcase their raw, darker truths. ‘My characters have streaks of fearlessness. I get a rush writing women who don’t care what you think. Probably to help me grow into being one.’

She explains her writing process in three words: ‘panic, panic, hope’, saying that a crucial part of her creative process is the rush she gets from a looming deadline. Her best piece of advice for other writers trying to catch a break? ‘Just write and write and write. Don’t try to impress anybody. Write like you’re not afraid. Every time I sit down at the computer, I remind myself of that. That’s when the naughty writing hand comes out and that’s when it all starts cooking.’

Behind the scenes, middle child Phoebe has a strong family support system. When she and her older sis Isobel (who wrote the score 28

FAIRLADY / JUNE 2020 for Fleabag) were younger, they promised each other they’d never live together for fear that the close quarters would break their bond. Fast-forward to today, and the two are quarantined together. ‘It’s been bliss! We’re so close; I admire her more than anyone in the world. And yet, I also know how to irritate her more than anyone else in the world.’

Fleabag was almost like ‘a love letter to my sister’ says Phoebe. Her brother Jasper, meanwhile, was a bit alarmed by it. When she showed her family an early cut, Jasper’s response was: ‘I think you’re going to scare a lot of men with this show. It’s going to freak them out.’ Phoebe’s response? ‘F*cking good – it’s about bloody time!’

Despite some similarities (she has an older sister and her stepmother is also an artist) Phoebe assures fans that Fleabag’s family is nothing like her own. ‘People [assumed] Iso is like Claire and I’ve weirdly had to defend our family,’ she says. In fact, her characters were created after she imagined the polar opposite version of her life. ‘I’m drawing on really personal things and things that echo in real life, but I write about my biggest fears. I write about losing my best friend or losing my mum, or not communicating with my dad, or not getting on with his new partner… it’s the “what if?”’

Although she describes herself as a romantic, Phoebe keeps her mouth firmly shut when it comes to her relationships. Whenever the topic comes up, she politely declines to answer. We do know this: she was briefly married to documentary filmmaker Conor Woodman, and (judging by the person on her arm on the red carpet) is now dating Martin McDonagh, director and writer of Oscar-winning film Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.

Phoebe fans anxiously awaited the release of her latest project in April 2020, but Covid-19 had other plans.

The latest James Bond film (and Daniel Craig’s last hurrah as 007), No Time to Die, is now scheduled for release in November 2020. Phoebe was pulled onto the team by Daniel himself to co-author the script.

‘I had my eye on her ever since the first [season of] Fleabag,’ says Daniel. ‘Then I saw Killing Eve and what she did with that, and just wanted her voice. It’s so unique.’

Bond fans were caught off-guard by the choice of scriptwriter – and so were many feminists. Although the secret agent has evolved since the days of Sean Connery, Phoebe is only the third woman in history to contribute to the writing of a Bond film. But not to worry: our favourite chauvinistic, promiscuous secret agent with a licence to kill isn’t getting a politically correct makeover. ‘The important thing is that the film treats the women properly. He doesn’t have to. He needs to be true to this character.’

In the meantime, you can catch Phoebe in HBO series Run, a dark romcom centred on college exes who keep their 14-year pact that if either of them texted the word ‘RUN’ to the other, they’d drop everything to go on a road trip across America together. Phoebe is the executive producer; you can catch a glimpse of her as the character Laurel.

While we’re all social distancing, Phoebe has also shared another treat with her fans: Fleabag on stage. To help raise money for the charities working on the frontline of the pandemic, and to support the theatre community, you can stream the live production of Fleabag for £4 (R92,55). ‘I hope this filmed performance will provide a little theatrical entertainment in these isolated times,’ Phoebe writes, cheekily adding, ‘Now go get into bed with Fleabag! It’s for charity!’

Stream Fleabag live on the West End: ondemand.sohotheatre.com