High Priestess of Awkward Phoebe Waller-Bridge

Vagina shots, guinea pig obsessions, sex with Priests, and feminist silent retreats with your sister. Actress, comedian, writer, and producer Phoebe Waller-Bridge isn't afraid to make you feel uncomfortable. In fact, that is the entire premise of her latest Emmy award-winning Amazon Original Fleabag (2016-2019). Using a combination of painfully grotesque situational comedy and the breaking of what's known as the "fourth wall," Waller-Bridge creates a universe where she can provide commentary in real time. In this bing-worthy sitcom, a woman known only to her audience as "Fleabag," played by Waller-Bridge herself, details the dramatic and often painfully awkward moments of life, always stopping to drop a joke or two for the camera at the expense of her friends and relatives. The beauty of this character is not only her detachment from social expectations and her sadistic love for making others uncomfortable, it is her ability to point out the meaninglessness of conventions of daily life. Simply put, Waller-Bridge entices her audience by saying what we are all thinking, or simply, breaking down that thinking all together.

Take this scene for example. Fleabag finds herself on a crowded London tube. The scene begins with a seemingly boring early commute, until you here the quiet opening of AWOLNATION's "Sail" in the background. As if choreographed, all of the passengers, with the exception of our protagonist, begin contorting their bodies in sync to the metallic riffs of the guitar. The viewer watches this scene play out with equal amounts confusion and awe. It builds with the music like a ballet of ordinary civilians until Waller-Bridges turns to the camera and brings it to a crashing halt. "I think my period's coming" Fleabag concludes and the motion stops.

This scene like many others needs few words to create an unforgettable moment. What's masterful about Waller-Bridges comedy is its lack of complexity and its provocation. Just by saying one line, "I think my period's coming," Waller-Bridge completely strips the performance of any symbolic meaning and defies every expectation of the viewer. That one line turns all of the beauty of the previous two minutes into absurdity.

These small moments are complimented by more serious plot lines. Through comedy, Waller-Bridge displays the complicated relationship between family members, grief after the death of a loved one, female sexuality, and the vulnerability of love. In the show, Fleabag grapples with the death of her mother and the recent "accidental suicide" of her best friend and business partner. Fleabag's fraught relationship with her "perfect, anorexic sister" helps her navigate through the reality of her situation: her business is on the brink of going under, she can't hold a guy for more than a couple of one-night stands, and at times, she feels completely and utterly alone.

Waller-Bridge admits that she draws on her own experiences while creating. Her character's are memorable for being complicated. They're not good. They're not bad. They defy categorization — a uniquely human quality. Her character may be a murderer, but she's the sweetest murderer you've ever met.

"I think a lot of time, I'm just writing my worst fears, of the idea of losing my mum or my best friend or doing something so terrible to somebody that's kind of deemed unforgivable, or having a really broken family." - Waller-Bridge

Waller-Bridge comes from a family who supported her artistic endeavors. In fact, several of her siblings work within the music and entertainment industry as well. Phoebe, herself, has always challenged convention. Beginning with her education at The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, Waller-Bridge found herself frustrated with her course instruction. When they told her to be silent and expressive, she felt compelled to speak. When they told her to play a panther, she wanted to play a bat. In an interview with the New York Times, Waller-Bridge comments that life has always been that way for her. People try to place her in a box, and all she wants to do is get out.

“I’ve always wanted to be a bat,” she says, “but I’m expected to be a panther.” - Waller-Bridge

After graduating in 2006, Waller-Bridge opened a Theater Company, Drywrite, with her business partner and fellow writer Vicky Jones. Her company was designed to push writers to create stories that made audiences feel uncomfortable. When she became dissatisfied by the characters being created, she decided to write ones for herself. What followed was both disturbing and terribly interesting, and I'm not even talking about her role on Star Wars.  

Waller-Bridge originally created Fleabag as a stage production, which debuted several times in New York. Her other creations including Crashing (2016), a sitcom detailing the lives of squatters in an abandoned hospital, and Killing Eve (2018), a romantic spy drama also received critical acclaim. Regardless of the fame these masterpieces have brought her, Waller-Bridge's ultimate fear is stagnation. She is never content to look backward towards her accomplishments, but wants to keep pushing herself and her audiences to think outside the box. Her star status as an actress does not concern her, rather, she has decided to focus on writing and producing much to the annoyance of many directors who have considered her for roles. Her partner, Jones, actually comments on Waller-Bridge's creative spirit, recounting Waller-Bridge's annoying habit of spoiling movies and productions by guessing and whispering what is going to happen next. Jones says this annoyance with predictability drives Waller-Bridge to "Phoebe-Proof" her own work, meaning the audience never knows what's about to happen. 

"You're allowed to bore your friends and family, but to bore your audience is unforgivable." - Waller-Bridge

That insatiable appetite for unpredictability can also make Waller-Bridges a difficult boss to write for. Often times writers on her various shows will giddily provide their new ideas for a certain character only to find out later that Waller-Bridge had already planned on killing that same character. However, the same goes for Waller-Bridge's own work. A perfectionist at heart, she is never satisfied with the first draft. In fact, Waller-Bridge once wrote her own character out of a production because she didn't think she could do that character justice. You can say what you want, but she is willing to make the hard decisions to provide the best quality.

That's exactly why Waller-Bridge has shut down the idea of a third season for Fleabag much to the dismay of fans and Amazon. According to Waller-Bridge, the story line has come to a natural end and she is ready to put Fleabag to rest. However, the same was said after the first season so fingers crossed.

For now, Phoebe Waller-Bridge is basking in the glow of her recent Emmy win and continuing to create some pretty depraved and masterful content. Waller-Bridge is set to star in live productions of Fleabag in New York until the end of April. The artist is also teaming up with HBO on a series titled Run, depicting a love story between two estranged friends whose time to call on a long forgotten pact has suddenly expired.

I, for one, can't wait to see what she comes up with next.

"I have a horrible feeling I am a greedy, perverted, selfish, apathetic, cynical, depraved, morally bankrupt woman who can't even call herself a feminist." - Waller-Bridges

Above is one of my favorite scenes from the series. Hair is everything.

References:
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3564817/
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/14/theater/phoebe-waller-bridge-fleabag-killing-eve.html
http://www.bbcamerica.com/anglophenia/2019/05/10-things-you-never-knew-about-phoebe-waller-bridge