The character comes from a very deep place within me: Fleabag actor Phoebe Waller-Bridge

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The first season of Fleabag started out as a nearly unnoticeable series on a rather unnoticeable channel (BBC Four). The name, Fleabag, didnt really lend itself to being blockbuster material. But by the time the second and final season rolled in, Fleabag had been bought by Amazon, and its creator and lead actor Phoebe Waller-Bridge had a BAFTA under her belt for Best Female Performance in a Comedy. A two-season comedy-drama set in London, it focused on a quirky, strong, sexually aggressive and yet vulnerable woman — the eponymous Fleabag, played by Phoebe Waller-Bridge — who is dealing with loss and grief. A fellow from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), Waller-Bridge, in a telephone conversation from London, explains why her character kept breaking the fourth wall, and why women can be everything they want to be. Excerpts:

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Fleabag, the protagonist, is tragically whimsical and apologetically staunch. Is it autobiographical?

A friend had asked me to do a 10-minute thing, and I had been thinking a lot that I havent played a dark character that sort of wheels me, a woman in her mid-20s. Its not autobiographical, but its very personal, and the character comes from a very deep place within me. I had to put my money — there was no money at point actually — on this instinct, which is quite cynical. And she became this model of that cynicism for me.

Theres a certain bravado to Fleabag. She also was not liked much initially.

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I feel people have been scared to write characters like these. But I think, now, especially women, are so relieved to have this new template. And arent we all a bit of everything? The morning can start out with us being a chaste princess, and by the afternoon we can be the Gremlin whore. We are all very different things in the same day, and at the same time. I feel, weirdly, that it felt less brave to not do that now. Its been pouring out of me, this need to project multi-dimensional women as we are. We can be celebrated and at the same time do things that are potentially unforgivable. Then we let the audience decide.

Fleabag was first staged at the 2013 Edinburgh Fringe. How was the transition from the stage to the screen?

It was really hard. I have my directors to thank massively. My best friend helped develop the play, and then we got Harry Bradbeer as the director. He really cared about the heart. Many directors, they care about what you see, he cares about what you feel. It was critical, as I wanted to create something I hadnt seen before, especially that interplay between the audience and the creator.

You breaking the fourth wall is the one salient features of the show.

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It was very specific to the one-woman show that we did. I wanted the audience to be drawn in, so I could share with them how personal it all was. It felt like the biggest relationship to me. I wanted the audience to be lured in, to come with me and enjoy this time, I promised that it will be fun. And at the end of the play, when there was this big reveal, they are looking in the eyes of the character, and the audience is feelingRead More – Source