BOOK’S APPEAL IS ITS ARTY STATUS SYMBOL

Fleabag: The Scriptur Phoebe Waller-Bridge Sceptre €22.99 ★★★★★

AS WITH so many culture hits these days, we can’t seem to let Fleabag die. Phoebe WallerBridge’s anti-heroine has powered a stage show, two multiaward-winning TV series, several theatrical revivals and a French TV remake. And now fans can devour the scripts, too.

Fleabag: The Scriptures comprises the screenplays of the two TV series followed by brief commentary from WallerBridge. There’s also sheet music for a choral piece that Isobel Waller-Bridge (Phoebe’s sister)

composed pages of ruled for series notepaper two, and with an two invitation to ‘write like you’re not afraid’.

In her commentary WallerBridge (left) recounts what drrove her to write the show at 27: ‘A rage grew in me at the invisible lectures I felt I was getting all t time about how to be a woman She also toasts her team, with

shout-outs to, among others, stage show director Vicky Jones, who made her feel ‘totally unafraid’, and Olivia Colman, for whom the stepmother part was created.

None of this adds much to what devoted fans will have gleaned from previous interviews. Still, the scripts themselves are, of course, exceptional – and the stage directions offer a new perspective. For instance, they build exquisite tension before Fleabag and the ‘hot priest’ first kiss: ‘He holds her face in front of his for a moment. Deciding.’ Yet reading them is still not a patch on watching the show’s sublime cast perform them.

The book’s real appeal is as an arty status symbol – display it on your coffee table to assure visitors of your good taste. It’s also a nice reminder of Fleabag’s cultural significance. In creating a fearless, original portrait of the female psyche, Waller-Bridge has carved space for others to do the same.