Fleabag by Phoebe Waller-Bridge

Phoebe Waller-Bridge has written a new hit-series for the BBC called Fleabag. It’s premise is of the kind that features a witty female protagonist in her thirties, stumbling through life in search of herself; the viewer watching all along and sharing in her successes and comedic failures. However, what distinguishes Fleabag from its genre is the fact that this protagonist regularly turns to the camera and makes some kind of side remark to the audience (also known as ‘breaking the fourth wall’). Sometimes she reveals her true thoughts, which are at odds with what she is saying to another character, making for a humorous juxtaposition, and sometimes she simply gives the camera a knowing look or rolling of the eyes. This technique creates a sense of intimacy between the main character and the audience, as though they are the only 2 people that know what is really going on. It also creates a kind of double narrative or ‘multiple reality’: one is the reality where all the characters are interacting with each other as they do in a real world scenario; the second reality is one where Fleabag extracts herself from the first reality and comments on what is going on in it. Fleabag is living her life as a character within the show whilst simultaneously being aware of the fact that she is being filmed for a TV show. The situation becomes even more ‘meta’ when one of the characters appears to notice the fact that she is speaking to the camera (all the other characters act as though this isn’t happening). This character does not acknowledge the presence of the camera, yet insists that she is speaking to ‘someone else’.