Phoebe Waller Bridge is a 31-year-old writer, director, actor who is best known for creating the show Fleabag, a dark comedy that centers on her as the main character. She first got into writing when she performed a short scene for an experimental night at a pub in London. She was obsessed with the reaction she got from the audience and realized that she wanted to continue writing scenes that make people really feel something.
She grew up in a loving and supportive home in west London with her parents, sister, and younger brother. Creativity was always encouraged in the household and she can remember creating elaborate plays with her sister. Her parents were supportive and showered them with praise, so it is no surprise that this environment led to great success of Phoebe.
Her work on Fleabag was inspired by her own life. Specifically, it is inspired by the selfishness and womanhood of a 20-something. The show very comedic, with a lot of dry humor, but it also has some very heartbreaking moments. It follows the grieving period after losing a friend and all the shame and anxiety that can come with being a woman. Phoebe somehow is able to have you laughing in one scene and crying in the next without feeling confused.
Bridge's success continued after Fleabag and also went on to write an 8-part crime thriller, Killing Eve. Her motivation to continue working is all intrinsic and she feels fulfilled by her work. The money and the fame have never been the reasons for her to be in this field. Early in her career, in a chance meeting with Vicky Jones, Phoebe said "If you ever have anything happening ever, please can I be in anything? I will play a rug on the floor and you can get people to walk all over me.’” She was always looking to be working and didn't care about what exactly she was doing. She just wanted to be a part of the acting world. I believe her commitment to the craft is what is responsible for her wild success.
Her personality is also a big part of who she is and how she has gotten where she is. In the Big 5, she is higher on openness, slightly lower on conscientiousness, higher on extraversion, higher on agreeableness, and average on the neuroticism trait. These traits are all consistent with creative individuals and may play a large role in her success.
Sources:
https://thegentlewoman.co.uk/library/phoebe-waller-bridge
https://mashable.com/article/phoebe-waller-bridge-fleabag-inspiration
I loved Fleabag, and I was able to watch it in my Women Studies/Gender Studies which helped in the analysis of the show! I think she is a genius, and I had no idea she wrote Killing Eve. I agree that her personality is a huge part of her success, since Fleabag is based off of her life. Her creative process is very interesting with the mix of comedy, drama, and depressing scenes. It is very hard to mix these different genres together, but she created something wonderful that I think is indicative of her as a person.
ReplyDeleteI also wrote of a very different breed of semi-autofiction also dealing with 20-something selfishness. It is interesting how much fresh material that is still uniquely perceptive in its own right can be made on such a topic.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely love Phoebe Waller Bridge, and discovered her through her show Fleabag. There is so much to say about the show and the directing decisions that she made, but the show is beautifully done. It actually began as a one person stage act, and although the show is able to present a wider array of emotion and characters and personality, the theatrical act really brings out Phoebe Waller Bridge's ingenuity. I watched the show first but gained a great appreciation for the one-woman show once I had watched it. I would recommend to anyone, especially those who enjoyed the tv series!
ReplyDeleteI love Bridge's humor, the unique way in which she makes the audience feels like they are apart of her stories really helps the watcher feel invested into the story. It becomes so important to the story that when the aspect is broken in the second season, it physically is jarring to the watcher. This connection is very rare and something that seems only Phoebe has incorperated in this format/
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