Phoebe Waller-Bridge admits performing Fleabag at Edinburgh Fringe changed her life forever

Virgin Radio

5 Aug 2022, 09:31

Phoebe Waller-Bridge

Credit: Getty

Fleabag creator Phoebe Waller-Bridge has credited debuting her one-woman show at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe with changing her life and career.

The talented writer and actress is part of a BBC documentary called The Fringe, Fame and Me, which celebrates the 75-year history of the Scottish arts festival.

Waller-Bridge first performed the smash-hit production in 2013, and admitted she only finished the script while travelling up to Edinburgh to perform it. 

After the stage production wrapped, the performer then adapted the story for the small screen, creating the hugely successful Fleabag show, which ran for two series in 2016 and 2019.

Phoebe Waller-Bridge performing 'Fleabag'

Credit: Rex

Fleabag centres on a free-spirited but angry and confused young woman trying to navigate life and love in London, and in the new documentary, Waller-Bridge said it felt very relevant at that time. 

She explained: “2013 had a real f**k you, feminist, angry energy shock through it because there was a zeitgeist that year of people talking about feminism in a way that they sort of hadn’t before.

“And I feel that is one of the reasons that Fleabag really hit. There were so many people who could actually relate to it.”

The Fringe was the right place for Fleabag, according to Waller-Bridge, as there are “no grown-ups” and “you’re allowed to say what you really wanted to say before anyone else could get in the way of it.”

After premiering at the Edinburgh Fringe, Fleabag went on to win BAFTA, Emmy and Golden Globe awards. 

On the impact of debuting Fleabag at the iconic arts fest, Waller-Bridge added: “These four weeks could change your life and change your career forever, which is what happened to me. I mean I never looked back after Edinburgh.”

Another famous face who credits the Edinburgh Fringe with helping their career is Friends star David Schwimmer. 

He took his production of Alice in Wonderland there while studying at Northwestern University in his 20s.

Speaking in the documentary, Schwimmer shared: “It was a life-changing experience and it also proved to us that we could do this.

“We had a very satisfying run at the Fringe and we came back and said ‘let’s do this professionally’.”

Other stars who appear in the doc include Stephen Fry and Emma Thompson, who both cut their teeth at the Fringe while part of the Footlights dramatics group at Cambridge University. 

The Fringe, Fame and Me will air on BBC Scotland on August 8 and on BBC Two and iPlayer August 10.

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