Fleabag Play vs TV Show - A Comparison
Vložit
- čas přidán 31. 05. 2020
- Thanks to MUBI for their support! Get your 30 day free trial of MUBI here: mubi.com/thomasflight
Fleabag originated as a stage show, how did it change on it's way from stage to screen? This video examines and shows side-by-side how the two compare.
Watch the Stage Version on Amazon Prime Video: amzn.to/2XnLCXb
// WATCH MORE THOMAS FLIGHT
-Ad-Free Videos and Exclusive Content on Nebula: go.nebula.tv/thomasflight
-My Podcast Cinema of Meaning:
Ad-free and early on Nebula: Nebula: nebula.tv/cinemaofmeaning
Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/4n6zZZQ...
iTunes: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast...
-Rent or Buy My Experimental Documentary:
labyrinthion.com
-Read My Newsletter:
thomasflight.substack.com/
// SUPPORT MY WORK
-Support my Channel directly on Patreon: / thomasflight
Patrons get access to a discord community, monthly podcast reviews of everything I watch, and more!
-Sign up for Nebula using my Link: go.nebula.tv/thomasflight
Signing Up for Nebula using my link supports my channel financially.
// FOLLOW ME
-Twitter: / thomasflight
-Website: www.thomasflight.com
-Letterboxd: letterboxd.com/thomasflight/
-TikTok: / thomas.flight
// CONTACT ME
-sponsorship and Business inquiries: thomasflight@standard.tv
-Questions, feedback, other stuff: contact@thomasflight.com
(check out my FAQ as well: www.thomasflight.com/faq)
#ThomasFlight #Movies - Krátké a kreslené filmy
Her MEMORY though! The whole stage performance is just her talking, what an incredible actress and writer.
Yeah it's pretty incredible, but it's exactly what stand up comedians do too. Still, I commend anyone who can remember an hour of dialogue, its so insane! I'd struggle doing 2 minutes!
One actor plays always blow my mind.
winterfishes stand up comedians can improvise, though. in this type of show, i believe it’s memorized almost word for word, and phoebe does it so effortlessly!
she is a trained actress, of course she'd be able to do that, just like many other actors who do one person plays, she even has the advantage of performing something she'd written on her own
Wait til you hear about this crazy thing called theatre!!
This woman is a genius.
AMEN !
Killing eve and fleabag 💯💯💯
She truly IS!!!!
I’ve rewatched both seasons over and over.. When she learns she’s in deed loveable and the Fox appears is pure GENIUS!!!
The way Season 2 episode begins and ends. A whole other level of Genius!!!
What an amazing women Phoebe is, I’m totally besotted 😍
Fleabag broke the 4th wall so effectively. Unlike most shows that break the 4th wall, Fleabag makes you feel like a confidant than a mere viewer.
From Story To Plot The only production I can think of that utilises the technique more effectively (imo) is Mr Robot. Which is a pretty glowing comparison I guess.
Both Fleabag and Mr. Robot utilize it beautifully. It's really impossible to choose between the two.
@@perspii2808 Definitely a glowing comparison. I ❤️ both shows.
@@silkthyme 💯
I may he wrong, but I’m assuming you’re talking about mockumentary style comedy shows. If you are I’ll say that the “make you feel like a viewer” style of fourth wall breaking is intentional and fitting in mockumentary style shows.
A huge difference is her projection! Her theatre voice is so much louder and fuller that it feels like a slam poem at stages. I think she does both performances so well but the tv show allows the tone to be a lot gentler.
She's in a theater ofc the voice is different
@@francescagarbalau1047 yeah of course! i jus think it creates an interesting effect
exactly the show feels sm more personal
The difference between theater acting and tv/film acting.
Except where the tone is more nuanced in recorded medium, the emoting is usually more nuanced on stage.
Fleabag has such a devastatingly sad undertone to it, when I went to see the stage show played at the cinema I walked away heartbroken, just felt so unmoored and awful and a mix of every emotion to exist. I think good art does that, moves you so profoundly.
I had the exact same experience
i saw the play in london last summer and even though i had seen the show and KNEW what was coming my emotions were all over the place too
Be thankful you are also capable of being moved by art... it’s not a given, sadly.
@@lisa_vxng oooh lucky! Phoebe's writing, it comes for us all hahaha
@@tbz1551 I'm very thankful, it is a beautiful thing!
Olivia Coleman's acting is so incredibly effective that I still get mad at her when I see her in anything other than Fleabag
Also her from peepshow later on tryna make mark impregnate her
I was waiting for a passive aggressive remark when I saw her on Heartstopper.
This woman gives me schizophrenic episodes - first I saw her in interviewes where she's an absolute cookie and tonic and then I'm watching Fleabag, Crown and the Favourite and now I believe there's her and 3 crazy sisters
Hahahahaha, me too
SAME
Fleabag (The series) i think is one of those rare gems that *outdid herself* by the second season and increase the value and appreciation for it.
Yep, I didn't think she could possibly top the first season but she somehow managed to pull it off, which is just incredible to me. A seriously (almost annoyingly) talented woman :-)
Absolutely! I think it has to do a lot with how a majority of TV shows release a second season to get more money out of the initial premise. Fleabag and its creators have spoken about being much more artistically driven, building on ideas rather than milking a dead one.
For me, the twist works soooo much better in the show, you can see her struggle even looking at us (the camera) and it feels so... real. I've had friends that did me wrong look at me like that, it was visceral.
For me, while I think that I general the show is stronger, I prefer how the twist works on stage. I get the same facial devastation from her stage performance plus the true depth of what she is feeling gets amplified by her line. Also, the way we see the story build up to that moment is important. even though I saw the show and knew what the twist would be before I saw the recording of the play, I felt more visceral gut reaction from the play. I think that’s mostly because of the way the flashbacks in the show telegraph the answer to you well before the moment, I guessed it was coming so I didn’t feel as shocked by it.
I think much of the success with her technique of the in camera look was just her ability to communicate so effectively with body language and facial expressions. She’s the modern Rowan Atkinson in many ways...that’s not a Mr Bean reference either. For those who don’t know his unique genius with live performances, I suggest they watch his 1 hour live performance with Richard Curtis.
What was the twist? It's a few years since I watched the TV series. I remember how she got together with the vicar at the end.
@@BobsBandthe reveal that she slept with her best friends bf that lead her to taking her own life
Yes visceral !
You got me at Olivia Colman. Also, I love how the second season brings a mystery to the whole 4th wall aspect with the hot priest kinda sensing it.
xD yeah that was a good line!
Güzel yorum aga
Phoebe has said that this idea (of making someone else sensing the 4th wall aspect) was what convinced her to make a 2nd season. As she said it was like the priest could sneaky peak her real self and not just the shell of her (that was created due to the traumatic experience). Phoebe was really honest with the viewers. Making a second season (just because the first one was a success) with simply repeating the scheme of her talking to the camera (even though now we do know her backstory) would lack artistic value. Although of course the second season is heavily based (schematically) on the first it adds upon that and that really makes it a great show. One of the most complete TV shows out there, even though the scenes are ftactured and erratic; not a perfectionist's show, but it never strived to be.
@@fenonakia.3217 it's also cool because the audience starts to realize that we're her friend who she needs to turn to now that her best friend is dead, and hot priest is able to breach that gap because he's the only one who gets to really know her in the second season. top it all off with the way her relationship with her best friend and the priest's relationship with God are paralleled in the confession box scene (and i think in some other spots too), and then we get to be in the God position ourselves--a viewer looking in on somebody, watching all of their worst mistakes and deepest desires, and we want the best for them, but we (behind our screens) can't do anything and God (whether he's considered a real thing in this show or not i dunno) can't outwardly do anything aside from drop some photo frames i guess? and where am i going with this. i'm not sure. but i think it's something.
oh my god that was so great
It's weird seeing exactly how note-for-note certain dialogue and scenes like "you get that from your mother" are in Fleabag, and how they feel SO much more effective as part of TV than as a stage show. The medium of your story really does make a difference.
It’s so interesting; in the stage show, “you get that from your mother” is a laugh line, but in the tv show it’s devastating. Fascinating to see them side-by-side.
I think the stage show is extremely effective in telling the story. I‘d have loved to see it live. Of course, the TV show is brilliant, too
I think it might also be partly because she has to kind of belt out the lines in the play, but in the TV show the camera can pick up what she is saying from up close. Maybe I'm not rlly sure haha
it seems unfair to judge the effectiveness of the stage show when you're only watching it through a screen.
I found just the opposite, especially in this scene. The show is certainly brilliant, but in this particular scene I had the impression that they wanted to keep the joke, but the faster pace made it come out in a awkward way. When her father say the line, we don't laugh but feel bad for her. Her father is not a mean figure, so I doubt it was on purpose.
I am HORRIFIED that I had no idea that Fleabag was once a one-woman show. I am consistently impressed by Phoebe. What an absolute genius.
One moment I absolutely loved in the show was in the funeral scene when fleabag looks at Boo in the *exact* same manner as her asides to us and you realise the sadness behind the 4th wall breaks. Phoebe is a pure genius
OMG your so clever ❤️❤️❤️ I never realised!
its shocking to see that the dialogue was changed so little. it flows so well that i would've imagined that the actors had some liberty to play with the lines or that they were written with the actors in mind - it's just such a brilliantly written show
It's frankly impossible to imagine any British TV show from the last 20 years which _doesn't_ feature Olivia Coleman.
thankfully. she's great
Fleabag, peep show , Flowers, Bruiser , Mitchell and Webb look... so many great comedy shows she’s in
@@mrmogford8117 and that Dr Who spin-off series with the dead boy on the beach
I agree.
(PS, it's spelled Colman not Coleman)
@@rabeks seriously????? 🙄
Isobel Higgs what?
I would probably say that season 1 < the play < season 2.
The play really grips you with her uncompromising rawness and sexuality, and the twist at the end winds up being that much darker; you're completely inside her at that point; you know all her secrets, but then there's another secret that was too raw for even us to know. The show doesn't capture that quite as well, simply because it's a completely different medium.
What season 1 excels at is translating the fourth wall breaking aspect into a more objective scenario; we see things as they are, and also as she sees them. The impact may be a bit diluted as a result, but our role in the show feels just as active as hers does...
Which is why season 2 is allowed to be that much more brilliant. Now we're all on the same page, Fleabag isn't gonna bullshit us, and she feels more comfortable than ever confiding in us because we know all her secrets. But then another character calls her out for using us to escape from reality, and she eventually grows to realize she doesn't need us anymore.
But all three of these incarnations are brilliant and need to exist. The play breaks the fourth wall to subject the audience to its unreliable narrative. Season 1 breaks the fourth wall to create conflict between the narrator and reality. Season 2 questions what it means to break a fourth wall at all.
very interesting take. thank you for sharing.
Great input! I think I might feel the same way if I had gotten to see the play before the show, or had been able to see it live.
Thank you for sharing. This was beautifully written and so concise
0:12-0:25 An absolute masterclass in the difference between acting on stage and acting for camera
You didn't include the guinnea pig dilemma: the pet had to be killed before the end of the play as a way of closure to her friend's death, but was censored at the TV script, so it needed a workaround that actually changed the tone of the ending quite a bit, giving it a second season and the deep but shattering "it will pass".
I connected emotionally more to the play because it was just her, raw. She plays the sexual side of her so well in both mediums but for me it was clear that sex was her escape and her despair at the end hits so much deeper. Her comedic and acting skills come out better in the play in my eyes. I love the show so much and as you say, it makes so much sense that the show grew out of the play.
It's so interesting to me how the acting is wildly different and yet she speaks the lines in a very similar pace. I guess that's because she wrote the lines herself and in both works it's her interpretation of it.
how does she memorize all of this? the confidence? alone on stage?
she built different
Fleabag S1 is one of the best debut seasons of all time; S2 is even better and probably the best S2 of any series ever
I actually LOVED experiencing the stage version FIRST before watching the tv show, because it made me build the world up in my head--it was magical. And watching it with a huge audience laughing so loud all around you is UNFORGETTABLE. Gave me a HUGE, bleak, pit feeling walking out of the theatre, THAT I didn't get from the TV show (possibly because I already knew the plot tho) Both great, just different mediums, practically apples/oranges.
Phoebe Waller-Bridge is a genius!! 💙❤️
Won't deny on that ☺️
Agreed
The last breaking of the 4th wall of the 2nd season is heartbreaking in its simplicity.
Recently finished watching it, absolutely enjoyed every single episode. While everyone was praising the main character 'Fleabag', I was mesmerized by the actress who's playing 'Claire' and Olivia Coleman. Both of them shines throughout the show.
All actors are great in this show. I enjoyed Martin
they laughed at the "you get all that from your mother" i was sobbing
I've never laughed out loud as much with a tv show as with Fleabag. But it's not just funny, there are deeply profound emotional moments in there too.
So true!
The asides are also great in how quickly and naturally she can just switch facial expressions and emotional tones. It’s incredible, really. And she never does it too cartoonish. It feels like very subtle but recognizable emotions
What struck me with the play was how much sadder it was. Much more a tragedy than a dark comedy
something i’ve always really really liked about fleabag is that we don’t worry or understand why she breaks the fourth wall, why she talks to US. and then we see the funeral scene with boo and we see how she looks at her and talks to her and it all kind of just makes sense. it’s very heartbreaking
In the play her act is so much more agressive but also raw, I think I personally prefer the show, more subtle and I feel her pain and heartbreak so much more
I find fleabag to be less sympathetic in the stage version, which is pretty interesting in its own right as I love horrible people doing horrible things, but the fact that in the TV show fleabag is both awful and so incredibly sympathetic makes the story so much more gut wrenching, because you see all her potential but in so many ways she can't help herself but be a scumbag of a person
The same material performed for 2 different mediums and done so well. Wow. Ugh the talent!!
I saw the stage play in 2013 (before the TV series), so I guess I can't give series 1 a truly objective review. But I remember Fleabag as the best monologue I have ever seen live. The twist, Phoebe's acting and her emotion work so much better in live play format. I laughed, cried and cried some more during the play. I can't say the same about season 1 of the series. It was good, but not outstanding. It felt clunky at times. The only thing the TV show had over the play, in my opinion, was Olivia Coleman's godmother character- she is terrifying.
In short, the play was exceptional and has still changed my outlook on life and the goodness of people to this day (you can be so flawed but still deserving of love and a second chance).
Season 2, however, was sublime. TV perfection. It was written for TV so everything flowed perfectly, the dialogue was incredibly tight, and it was the perfect mix of comedy and drama.
Fleabag is one of the most unique tv shows i watched in 2019!
She has the potential to be a legendary actress like meryl streep!
FLEABAG = TIMELESS MASTERPIECE. But also, I had no idea it was originally a play. Phoebe Waller-Bridge is such a good writer.
I love how even the pacing of her speech matches up
Well, can’t deny Olivia Coleman’s passive-aggressive step-mother’s brilliance!
One little thing of the fourth-wall breaking/asides in the show that I really enjoyed, is that none of the characters notice it except for the priest. It's both hilarious and a nice gesture towards their connection and him seeing her for who she is.
I’m obsessed with her work. She is a magnificent actress and writer .
Any video with Phoebe in it has such pleasant comment sections. It’s a really nice break from the norm on CZcams.
I literally love this show so much, it's one of my most favourite shows
Sadly, Olivia Coleman isn't in everything.
This comparison/contrast is just what I've been looking for! It's been a challenge to find clips of the play. Seeing them side by side gives rich information for solo performance artists. Thank you! Very well done! (I was especially curious to find out how Olivia Colman's stepmother character was depicted in the stage version. Apparently the character isn't included? She is handled so brilliantly!
It's delightful to see someone master stage acting vs screen acting with the same material
Omg I've been waiting for someone to make this! Thank you!
Hilly dies onstage. Very visceral moment.
An aside: is this the one show I can watch over and over and over again and never get bored? Yes, yes it is.
I love love love Fleabag's breaking of the 4th wall, she'd say the things we're thinking and react the way we would and it all felt so familiar that you don't realise the comfort of her confidences until they start to slip away, the entire thing is so beautifully nuanced it couldn't have been done better
This show is an absolute masterpiece from start to finish. Never watched something as seamlessly
Speaking of Phoebe, I'd love to see a video from you about Killing Eve! :)
"a good stage performance but a brilliant tv show..." The tv show is dynamic, but, man oh man, the stage show is absolutely brilliant. The writing shines way more and the simplicity of this emotionally isolated character alone on stage (without even scenery) is a testament to the power of the stage production. The ensemble in the show is fantastic, but on stage, Bridge has to do ALL of the heavy lifting. And she makes it look so easy when it is anything but. There is such elegance to it. Just wanted to chime in there. Solo theatre is deceptively hard and she is so so good at it. Not sure normal tv audiences know what they are looking at when watching the stage show. Just seriously next level. It is amazing that such a cool tv show came from this little, emotionally devastating, razor sharp solo performance of a broken character simply sitting in a chair telling her story.
I've watched the stage version and the show and it was cool to compare the two. Phoebe did a spectacular job adapting it to TV.
this was super interesting, thanks for compiling it this way.
Just literally finished watch the play and I know it available somewhere on the internet because you posted this essay..
So thank you very much!
I want to watch the play!!
bless your soul. this montage is amazing. thank you so much
Ok, as a regular theater patron, can honestly say it without applying any courage nor shame, the unspeakable : Yes, TV outdid the play on this one, Fleabag is better on screen.
And now I love it even more! Thank you! :)
I actually love the show more because of how it started. Just wow, this was a real labor of love.
Wow. You put a lot of work into this. Kudos!!
I think a story can be adapted across a new media form without it qualifying as a "loss." The show is able to provide visuals and add the talents of more actors, but that doesn't inherently make it better. It is just different. Experiencing the story in person through a play offers an intimacy with the performance that is not possible in the same way with the medium of film. I really love the show and I haven't seen the play in person, but I think both have a lot to offer.
She is a genius. This shows how well thought and true to her own mind the monologue was.
Yes and how true to the play the film is. :)
I love how she stops the breaking of the fourth wall to tell us the show is over.
Phoebe is a genius of taking out emotions from the writing of any script ❤️
she's so talented, I'm actually speechless
08:47
Sadly not everything can have Olivia Coleman in it
Fleabag has been the most recommended audiovisual by me. Seriously, to every single person I know. I can't let anyone die without watching this.
Few shows break the 4th wall as greatly as Fleabag and Mr. Robot.
freaking love it, great video
The stage play feels that much more intimate and she seems that much more vulnerable being up on stage on her own like that, I find it quite an uncomfortable watch, truth be told. Which speaks volumes about me, obviously :o
i think both the play and the TV show have their strengths, and which you think is better is a matter of preference. for instance, although the show uses fleabag's asides to great effect, the vast and empty stage portrays loneliness in a way that film can't quite reach. there are no cuts in a live performance, no way to turn away-- this is something that translated well to the tv show for me, as i felt i just had to keep watching without stop, but is still something theater excels at overall.
So interesting! Love the show, love this video!
Who else cried at the end of season 2? 😭
I've never seen nor heard it this but it looks great honestly
One of the funniest shows I've ever seen. And in a kinky but smart kind of way, which is unusual.
Go watch it! Excellent use of your downtime
The play is basically Phoebe Waller-Bridge reading/acting out the teleplay by the looks of it. (I know it's not but that's how it feels seeing them side by side)
Fleabag is an absolutely perfect show. I genuinely can't find anything wrong with it.
Thanks for this video.
It's the other way round. The one-woman theatre play came first, and the Season 1 TV screenplay was developed out of that. So, that was the work of someone understanding two different medias very well. But the Season 2 screenplay was an original one that resolved Fleabag's emotional growth arc in a brilliant way.
@@BigHenFor I know the play came first. But that was the most concise way to phrase it.
Ohhh man... I miss this show. Is totally amazing
The acting so good to match the perfect writing !
wish I could've seen this live on stage
This was awesome. Thanks
Brilliant comparison!
Wonderful video!
I am addicted to this series i just finished watching it today after 2 days of watching lol.
Context is definitely key here. Advocates for theatre know that there is an element of interacting with the audience in a live performance, which is why most actors prefer it as a medium. The elements that make theatre theatre are all subtracted from a recording of a performance and thus its impossible to judge without having seen the show in person.
Absolutely agree. I think I assumed my audience would understand this context, and treat this (as I was) as a comparison between the *recording* of the stage version and the show. But I now think it would have been good to include a specific discussion of that context in the video- as I don't think I got that distinction across.
Thanks Brotha for this one.
I'm really into fleabag things these days
just found this video and I'm in love
Thank you for this video
I think the actors on the show are all stunningly good
Imagine if she written Fleabag as a novel from what we’ve seen in her play. That would be awesome!
Great video! PWB is simply brilliant.
This makes so much sense!!! Tq
Oh great! Thomas finally covering Fleabag is just the thing that I needed to make me happy today. So thanks for this Thomas!
P.S - I like the show better. 😬
this is beautiful
Fleabag is the most vulnerable character and actress I’ve ever seen in a series. She’s such a fantastic writer
love this
her timing is IMPECCABLE
Please make a video speaking to the 2nd Season of Fargo's Cinematography and Soundtrack/Score choices. It is a real treat.
8:10 I had the EXACT same train of thought earlier in the video and I was about to comment it! And overall, it's like she took all of the good aspects of a one-woman show, and then built around them to make the TV show.
I was watching Fleabag during my labor! I wanted to watch it again for a long time and I decided that 'the big day' will be the best occasion
8:59 Excellent choice of music to end this video. _Step Up_ by Pete Rock & InI. 😊
With Season 1, both incarnations are brilliant, but I think it really depends on what you see first. I saw the show first and thought the twist was amazing, but my sister saw the play first and thought it was better (I watched the show with her afterwards). Because I already knew what was happening in the play, it was more about being exposed to extra stories that weren’t in the show. With my sister already knowing the twist from the play, it wasn’t as exciting watching it unfold over 6 episodes. She enjoyed it, but not so much the slow placing in relation to the energy from the play. I wish I could’ve erased everything I knew before seeing the play, but given it was inaccessible until now, it was kind of impossible!
What do you guys think, is it better to see the play or the show first? I really can’t pick.
I think we can all agree Season 2 is purely a masterpiece because it written for television in the first place. But of course, it needs Season 1 context.
This woman is pure gold