Phoebe Waller-Bridge Made It to the Big Stage: Skirball

We love a National Theatre meet cute.

Graphic by author.

In case you haven’t noticed, Phoebe Waller-Bridge is having a moment. Like, a major moment.

Besides being the writer of hit TV show Killing Eve, Waller-Bridge is also the creative genius behind Fleabag, which (in my humble opinion) is one of the best series I’ve seen in a long time.

First airing in 2016 on BBC, the show — written by and starring Waller-Bridge — explores the turbulent life of Fleabag after her best friend dies and leaves her in charge of their previously co-owned guinea pig cafe. (Yes, you read that right.)

Fleabag, who Waller-Bridge describes as a “dirty, pervy, angry, messed-up woman,” is left to spiral and pull away from the people closest to her. In the second season, she must reconcile with her feelings for Hot Priest (played by Andrew Scott), which are surprisingly deeper than what she’s used to feeling.

Before all of this, though, it started out as a one-woman monologue that Waller-Bridge debuted in 2013. Recently, as the show’s popularity has grown, she performed sold-out encore performances in London and New York.

National Theatre Live, whose mission is to bring British theater to screens everywhere, recorded one of Waller-Bridge’s final shows to broadcast live. Lucky for us, NYU Skirball hosted a showing of the iconic piece not once, but twice on October 6.

As an avid Fleabag fan myself, I was incredibly excited to see the original version of what would be the series.

Skirball welcomed students and non-students alike into its spacious auditorium, which was packed by the time the show started. The National Theatre Live played clips of other upcoming broadcasts (a comedy with James Corden! Even more Andrew Scott!) until, finally, the audience had settled and the lights went down.

If you’ve seen Fleabag the show, the plot of the one hour, 20 minute program will be very familiar to you — it’s pretty much the same as the first season. Fleabag slowly unveils the impact her friend Boo’s death has had on her, closing with her (spoiler!!) killing the guinea pig before going back to where she started: the bank, desperately trying to get the money to save her cafe.

All the elements that makes Fleabag (the show) stand out among the Game of Thrones and Barrys of the TV universe were present in the live performance. Fleabag’s frankness, her crude language and her hilarious facial expressions were all there. One thing I noted was that she didn’t have any iconic looks towards the audience — though, because it’s a monologue and not a television show, the piece itself is really a conversation with the audience, so there is no fourth wall to break.

And may I just say: Phoebe Waller-Bridge (who, by the way, just hosted SNL this weekend — no biggie) is a genius.

During the show, the theater was loud with laughter and gasps, and when the lights came up, the energy in the room had completely shifted. Which is probably what I love most about Fleabag — the way it changes the viewer.

Fleabag is messed up, sure, but the way I see it, Fleabag isn’t any more messed up than the average human being. We just all hide it better than she does. On top of that, the way Waller-Bridge unabashedly depicts female sexuality is something that I’ve never seen on television before. And that, kids, is what they call revolutionary.

If you missed National Theatre Live: Fleabag or want to see it again, there are many more showings of it at various theaters, which you can find here. To watch both seasons of the show, click here (trust me, you won’t regret it).