Get us in your inbox

Search
Phoebe Waller-Bridge in Fleabag at the Big Belly, Underbelly.
© Richard Davenport

Fleabag review

Underbelly Cowgate

Advertising
Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s one woman show ‘Fleabag’ is unbelievably rude, jaw-droppingly filthy and she’s almost certainly going to go to hell for it. It is also extremely funny and confirms Waller-Bridge – best thing in the recent West End revival of Noël Coward’s ‘Hay Fever’, star of Jack Thorne’s bathtub-set hit ‘Mydidae’ – as a serious talent to watch.

 

In an hour-long monologue that is never less than outrageous, she plays the porn-obsessed, hard drinking, sexually voracious owner of a guinea pig-themed café. As ‘Fleabag’ kicks off she’s half-heartedly mourning the accidental suicide of her best friend, has just been dumped by her boyfriend for having ‘a horrible wank’ in bed while he’s trying to sleep, and is on the verge of losing the café.

Talking at a rate of knots with well-spoken, casually withering assurance, Waller-Bridge has created a monster, of sorts. Her eponymous heroine is a creature of pure id who literally doesn’t give a shit about anyone else, leaving a trail of blithe devastation in her path as she fucks or fucks over everyone she encounters.

 In the first half, the funniness of the lines and narcissistic chutzpah of Fleabag’s behaviour make for an exhilarating ride – she’s obviously a terrible person, but her total disregard for any sort of social convention is winning. Later on, her chickens come home to roost, which I found a touch problematic: I don’t really get the impression that Waller-Bridge is warning about the dangers of unladylike behaviour, but it’s at risk of looking that way.

Nonetheless, the élan of Waller-Bridge’s performance is enough to carry ‘Fleabag’ home, and if the tone shifts in the second half, it’s all still gloriously inappropriate – certainly it’ll put you off guinea pigs for life.

The latest Edinburgh Fringe theatre reviews

Pioneer review
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • Theatre
  • Drama

It's probably written down somewhere in an old dusty book of Edinburgh Fringe Rules that staging a big-scale sci-fi thriller with a complex set is Not Advisable. Science-focussed theatre company Curious Directive have clearly ignored all the rules.

Read the review

Advertising
Little on the Inside review
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • Theatre
  • Drama

How do you escape the same four walls, when they're all you have to look at for the next 20 years? Alice Birch’s two hander play ‘Little on the Inside’ has the answer: with your imagination.

Read the review

Early Doors review
  • 3 out of 5 stars
  • Theatre
  • Drama

Pint after breakfast anyone? Noon may sound a little early to be drinking, but you’d feel out of place if you didn’t join in with the regulars during this play staged in a small Edinburgh boozer.

Read the review

Advertising
Advertising
Advertising
Nothing review
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • Theatre
  • Drama

Struggling to find work, bored, angry and obsessed with technology and sex: a bunch of today’s Generation Y speak to us in this series of monologues.

Read the review

Recommended
    You may also like
      Bestselling Time Out offers
        Advertising