Sexy, subversive … and sad: Phoebe Waller-Bridge's Fleabag in West End premiere

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Wyndham’s Theatre, London The first night, playing to a celebrity-packed audience, felt like a coronation but Waller-Bridge still has the ability to spring surprises

Six years after its debut on the Edinburgh fringe Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s one-woman play finally gets its West End premiere. In the interim it has travelled the globe, spawned two TV series and garnered shelf-fulls of awards. Seeing it on stage for the first time, I was struck by its subversive method, its inherent sadness and by Waller-Bridge’s mimetic skill as a performer.

Everyone by now has a shrewd idea of who Fleabag is: a woman in constant crisis whose guinea-pig-themed cafe is going bust and who has the capacity to screw-up her sex life, alienate family and destroy friendships. Yet, although her story is familiar, and the first-night playing to a celebrity-packed audience felt like a coronation, Waller-Bridge still has the ability to spring surprises.

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from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2PhgMxs

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