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Phoebe Waller-Bridge set for rare public appearance as Sceptre unveils Fleabag campaign
Phoebe Waller-Bridge will make a rare public appearance to discuss Fleabag: The Scriptures as Sceptre unveils its ambitious marketing and publicity plans for the hotly tipped scripts including a writer's bursary at Soho Theatre and the installation of a Fleabag Café.
Fleabag: The Scriptures was scooped in an eight-publisher bidding war last summer following much speculation in the publishing trade about the annotated script of the successful BBC series. Published on 12th November, the book will feature new writing from Waller-Bridge alongside the TV scripts and the never-before-seen stage directions from the award-winning TV series. The blurb reads: “Every Word. Every Side-Eye. Every Fox.”
Now the comprehensive programme of events, retail promotions and media plans have been shared by Sceptre to accompany the publication later this month.
One of the most anticipated events – and the only one to feature a rare public appearance of Waller-Bridge - will be the Southbank Centre in London on 8th December, which will see the writer in conversation with Deborah Frances-White, creator of “The Guilty Feminist” podcast. Tickets go on sale to the general public on Friday (8th November).
To accompany publication day, there will be various retail promotions including a week-long Fleabag Café installation in Waterstones Piccadilly in London, to be launched on 12th November, along with Fleabag-branded coffee cups available in the store’s ground floor café. There will be Fleabag-themed events at Waterstones Gower Street and Manchester Deansgate stores as well as an event at The Golden Hare in Edinburgh on 3rd December, which features the book’s editor Emma Herdman, editorial director at Sceptre.
Additionally, various branded Point of Sale items will be made available to retailers including Fleabag tote bags, pins, bookmarks, postcards. There is also a chance to win a £160 Alex Monroe Fox necklace on the book's dedicated pre-order website.
Further boosting the publicity plans will be a striking London Underground advertising campaign featuring five designs featuring lines from the book in total, launching towards the end of November.
Sceptre has also revealed it is funding the Fleabag Writers’ Bursary, to be launched with Soho Theatre later this month. It will enable one writer to attend the Writers’ Lab course at the Theatre, during which participants create a full-length piece of work over nine months under the guidance of theatre professionals, established writers and members of Soho Theatre’s artistic team.
Waller-Bridge, also writer of the first series of BBC America’s “Killing Eve”, will also be interviewed by raft of BBC Arts shows later this month as well as BBC Radio 1 and Radio 6. There will be a number of other interviews across print media including an interview with Vogue Australia and varopis podcast appearances as well as special Fleabag-themed sponsorship in Elizabeth’s Day’s “How to Fail” podcast.
Bea Colley, acting senior literature programmer at the Southbank Centre, said of Waller-Bridge's appearance next month: “We're incredibly excited to welcome Phoebe Waller-Bridge to Southbank Centre to celebrate the publication of Fleabag: The Scriptures. Southbank Centre champions the greatest writers and thinkers from around the world and Waller-Bridge is unquestionably deserving of that accolade – fearless, authentic, and a truly original voice that has delighted audiences across the world."
“Fleabag” originally opened as a one-woman play at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2013 and then was adapted and expanded by Waller-Bridge into a television series for the BBC in 2016. The second season premiered earlier this year, earning 11 Primetime Emmy Award nominations and winning for Outstanding Lead Actress In A Comedy Series, Outstanding Writing For A Comedy Series and Outstanding Comedy Series. This autumn, Waller-Bridge reprised her role for the stage in a sold-out, 30-date run of "Fleabag" at Wyndham’s Theatre in London.
Waller-Bridge's previous book, Fleabag: The Original Play (Nick Hern Books), was published in October 2016 as a 48-page tie-in edition for the first series. A special edition was published last August.
