Bette Bourne

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Bette Bourne
OBIE Award for Performance (2001, 1991), Manchester Evening News
Award

Bette Bourne (born Peter Bourne,[1] 22 September 1939) is a British actor,[2] drag queen,[3] campaigner, and activist.[4] His theatrical career has spanned six decades. He came to prominence in the mid-1970s onwards after joining the New York-based alternative gay cabaret troupe Hot Peaches. He then went on to form his own alternative gay theatrical company, Bloolips.[5]

Early life

Peter Bourne was born in Hackney, East London,[6] into a working-class family. He was one of four children and had two sisters and a brother. His mother was an amateur actress.[7] Bourne made his stage debut at the age of four as a member of Madame Behenna and her Dancing Children performing at Stoke Newington Town Hall where he sang Don't Sit Under The Apple Tree. The first play he remembers seeing was a production of Thornton Wilder’s Our Town in the early 1950s, although he had an interest in acting before that.[7] His father was indifferent to his son's acting aspirations. When Bourne reached 16, he did an apprenticeship as a printmaker, which lasted only three months. He then worked in journalism working at the New Scientist. Bourne began his theatre career working backstage at London's Garrick Theatre. He was not the only member of his family to enter show business, his brother is the actor and singer Mike Berry.[8]

1960s TV and Theatre Work

Bette Bourne (left) with other original GLF activists at a 40th anniversary celebration in the LSE.

Peter studied drama at London's

Shakespeare's Richard II.[6]

The 1970s & 1980s, Hot Peaches, and Bloolips

In the 1970s, feeling disillusioned with show business, Bourne put his acting career on hold to become an activist with the Gay Liberation Front.[5] He became a part of the infamous gay commune based in Colville Terrace in Notting Hill, London.[9] During this seminal period, Bourne started wearing drag and changed his name to 'Bette'.

" A lot of the queens were very afraid of us because we were disobeying the rules in some deep way and scaring them. People got very frightened. We weren’t frightening at all. But it was much stronger than anything they were doing. It was also about a sense of humour or not. Wearing the dresses was great fun as well. It certainly was for me.”

— Bette Bourne quote (June 18, 2020) on the initial impact Bloolips had.[10]

In 1976, Bourne joined the New York-based gay cabaret troupe Hot Peaches and performed with them across Europe, culminating in a show at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London.[6] When the troupe returned to New York City, Bourne remained in London and founded his own gay musical comedy company, Bloolips, in which men performed all the roles.

The Birth of Bloolips

Bette's inspiration for founding the company came from "a record he found on one of the junk stalls on

Portobello Market of Jean Metcalfe reading (in her very best BBC voice) the story of The Ugly Duckling. It was the perfect Coming Out story, and thus Bloolips was born."[11] The company employed the scriptwriter John Taylor (Jon Jon), who wrote many of the company's productions. Ray Dobbins wrote some of the scripts later on in the troupes career. Satirical political comedy was combined with tap dancing and singing, with the men dressed more clown-like than as female impersonators. The shows drew heavily on the glamour of the 1920s and 1930s golden era of Hollywood and Broadway theatre and were staged, produced, and directed very much in the vaudeville tradition with Bette cast as the leading lady. However, they came with a twist: the scenery and costumes were creatively designed to look tawdry and down-at-heel, to imply the company was on its last legs. Everyone in the troupe made their own costumes on a limited budget "out of plastic laundry baskets, broken lampshades, and tat from second-hand shops, sometimes using mops as wigs."[12]

All the shows featured original songs or adaptations of well-known numbers. One of their most memorable adaptations was of 'We’re in The Money,' (from the movie

Powis Square in August 1978 and were a sensation."[14] Thereafter, it became a regular practice for the troupe to premiere many of their productions at The Tabernacle, Notting Hill
to financially benefit the local community.

"Two years later we went to New York and opened in the off-off Broadway Theatre of the New City. We became the darlings of the

OBIE Awards, including one for their New York production of Lust in Space, where it ran for nine months selling out nightly. A two-month season on the west coast in San Francisco
followed their New York City success. "We continued touring Europe the USA and Canada until the last show in 1998."

“If Busby Berkeley had concocted a musical about Ancient Rome and cast it with English music-hall comics who love to dress up like chorines, it might look like Get Hur.”

— The Seattle Times, January 15, 1993.[17]

The original core members of Bloolips were Bette Bourne, Lavinia Co-op, Precious Pearl, Diva Dan, and Gretel Feather. During Bloolips’ existence, there were around 25 different members in the troupe. "We were the original Priscillas, Queens of the Desert, zooming up and down the country in a broken VW van," Lavinia Co-op remembers of his time touring with the troupe.[18] It has since been said that Bloolips brought radical drag to the mainstream.[19] A documentary movie of Bloolips was shot in New York City in 1993 during one of their lengthy seasons performing in the city. The film titled Bloolips contains footage of the troupe performing Get Hur on stage, as well as backstage footage and interviews with the cast.[20]

Bloolips shows

Bloolips performed 13 shows and disbanded in 1998. These included:

  • The Ugly Duckling (1978–79)
  • Cheek! (1978)
  • Vamp and Camp (1979)
  • Lust in Space (1980–82)
  • Yum Yum (1983)
  • Odds 'n Sods (1983–84)
  • Sticky Buns (1983–84)
  • Living Leg-ends (1985)
  • Slung Back and Strapless (1986–87)
  • Teenage Trash (1987–88)
  • Gland Hotel (1988–90)
  • Get Hur (1993)
  • The Island of Lost Shoes (1995)

In 1988, Bloolips toured Canada visiting Halifax, Nova Scotia and Ottawa in a Best of Bloolips production.

In 1990, Bourne and Precious Pearl (Paul Shaw) took a break from Bloolips and appeared with

OBIE Award
for Ensemble Production.

In 1998, Bourne and Paul Shaw visited America with a best of Bloolips production tilted Bloo Revue.[22]

In 2013, Bette and Paul Shaw gave a special retrospective performance titled A Right Pair, charting their journey through show business with monologues and turns from selected productions over the past 40 years.[23]

In June 2019, a 1981 offset lithograph window card advertising Bloolips at the Orpheum Theatre in Lust in Space came up for auction at New York's Swann Galleries and sold for $281.[24]

Mid-1990s Onwards

In 1995, Bourne performed solo in New York City in the production East of Eadie written by Ray Dobbins.[25] Also, in 1995, Bourne won a Manchester Evening News award for his performance as Lady Bracknell in the English Touring Theatre production of Oscar Wilde'sThe Importance of Being Earnest.[26]

In 1996, he appeared in

Shakespeare's Pericles, Prince of Tyre co-starring Will Keen.[28]

In 1999, Bourne played his friend, Quentin Crisp, in Tim Fountain's play, Resident Alien, at London's Bush Theatre.[29] So successful was the production it toured the world and played in New York City and Sydney. At Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2001, Bourne won a prestigious Herald Award for his portrayal of Crisp.[30] Fountain wrote two more plays for Bourne: H-O-T-B-O-I, which was produced at the Soho Theatre in 2004,[31] and Rock in 2008.[32]

Bourne was part of the

Drill Hall, playing the gay 20th-century Greek poet Constantine P. Cavafy living in Alexandria.[34]

In 2005, at the

Union Theatre in London. Bourne played the role of Queen Victoria.[36]

In 2009, Bourne talked about his life in A Life in Three Acts at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, a staged reading of transcripts of conversations with playwright Mark Ravenhill.[37][38]

In 2010, London's Evening Standard published an article by Mark Ravenhill in which he named Bette Bourne ‘The Queen of London.’[39]

In 2014 Bourne featured in a documentary film about his life and work, It Goes with the Shoes, written and directed by Mark Ravenhill.[40]

Acting credits

Theatre

  • Edinburgh Festival
    & West End, 1969
  • Edinburgh Festival
    & West End, 1969
  • A Vision of Love Revealed in Sleep for Gloria at
    The Drill Hall
    , London, 1989–1990
  • The Importance of Being Earnest (Lady Bracknell), 1995
  • Sarasine,
    Lyric Hammersmith
    , London, 1996
  • Resident Alien (Quentin Crisp), Bush Theatre, London, 1999
  • The Vortex (Pauncefort Quentin), Donmar Warehouse, London, 2002
  • Lyric Hammersmith
    , London, 2003
  • H-O-T-B-O-I (aka Deep Rimming in Poplar) (Reg), Soho Theatre, London, 2004
  • Read My Hips (
    The Drill Hall
    , London, 2005
  • Theatre of Blood (Michael Merridew), Royal National Theatre, London, 2005
  • Ripper (Queen Victoria),
    Union Theatre
    , London, 2007
  • Much Ado About Nothing (Dogberry), Novello Theatre, London, 2007
  • Rock (Henry Willson), Oval House Theatre, London, 2008
  • A Life in Three Acts (as himself), Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, 2009
  • A Life in Three Acts (as himself), St. Ann's Warehouse, Brooklyn, 2010
  • A Right Pair (as himself), Brighton Festival Fringe, 2012
  • Macbeth (Porter),
    Shakespeare's Globe Theatre
    , 2013
  • The Lightning Child (
    Shakespeare's Globe Theatre
    , 2013

Film

  • Caught Looking (1991) – Narrator
  • A Little Bit of Lippy (1992) – Venus Lamour
  • My Summer Vacation (1996) - English interviewee
  • Chéri (2009) - Baronne
  • Macbeth (2013) - as Porter
  • It Goes with the Shoes (2014) - as himself

Television

Archives and Further Reading

  • A Life in Three Acts by Bette Bourne and Mark Ravenhill, Bloomsbury Publishing, 2010.[41]
  • Unfinished Histories Archive – Bette Bourne[42]
  • Unfinished Histories Archive – Recording the History of Alternative Theatre[43]
  • Meet The Queens - Taylor Mac honours Bloolips, in the 'Queens of 2021' documentary.[44]
  • In Pictures: Bloolips and the Empowering Joy of Dressing Up - Exhibition at Platform Southwark, London, celebrates the legacy of the radical drag theatre company.[45]
  • Lust In Space - Bill Wolf's tableaux vivant of Lust in Space and the Bloolips troupe during their visit to San Francisco in 1981. The blog exhibits some wonderful photographs of Bloolips, including pictures of Bloolips float in the San Francisco Gay Pride Parade.[46]

Exhibitions

  • Bloolips and Radical Drag: Making an Exhibition of Ourselves, July 2019. Platform Southwark, London.[47]

References

  1. ISBN 9781408129395
    . Retrieved 5 August 2012.
  2. ISBN 9780415938532
    . Retrieved 5 August 2012.
  3. ISBN 9780521802642
    . Retrieved 5 August 2012.
  4. ^ Cuthbertson, Ian (27 December 2010). "Bette Bourne: Gay life through the eyes of a show-off". The Australian. Retrieved 6 August 2012.
  5. ^ a b Bette Bourne interview, Unfinished Histories: Bette Bourne
  6. ^ a b c Smith, Rupert (4 December 2005). "Rupert Smith talks to actor Bette Bourne". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 6 August 2012.
  7. ^ a b Bette Bourne (interview), The Skin of our Teeth, Young Vic, February 26, 2004, Howard Loxton article
  8. ^ "Well, hell... nobody's perfect". The Independent. 10 September 1996. Retrieved 9 November 2022.
  9. ^ Smith, Rupert (5 December 2005). "Straight theatre is all fake". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 February 2021. 'In 1969 he toured with Sir Ian McKellen in a double bill of Edward II and Richard II; a couple of years later he was living in a gay commune in Notting Hill, smoking joints and not bothering with auditions.'
  10. ^ Quote published in the article, ‘Gay veterans from 1970s will lead 2020 Pride march,’ QX Magazine, June 18, 2020: https://www.qxmagazine.com/2020/06/2020-pride-march-will-be-led-by-gay-veterans-from-1970s/ Pride March (retrieved June 19, 2021)
  11. ^ a b Hudson, David (19 July 2019). "What is 'radical drag' and who were Bloolips?". Gay Star News. Archived from the original on 20 July 2019.
  12. ^ "Lavinia Co-op on how the Bloolips brought radical drag to the mainstream - and the Hackney Empire". Hackney Gazette. 14 March 2018. Retrieved 9 November 2022.
  13. ^ Smith, Rupert (5 December 2005). "'Straight theatre is all fake'". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 27 April 2014.
  14. ^ ’What is Radical Drag and Who Were Bloolips?’ Gay Start News, July 19, 2019,: Bloolips Archived 20 July 2019 at the Wayback Machine
  15. ^ "Bar-02_Lavinia Coop | Francie Lyshak". francielyshak.com. Retrieved 9 November 2022.
  16. ISSN 0362-4331
    . Retrieved 9 November 2022.
  17. ^ Camping It Up with Bloolips, The Seattle Times, January 15, 1993, https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/?date=19930115&slug=1680097
  18. ^ Hackney Gazette, March 14, 2018, Lavinia Co-op interview: Lavinia Co-op
  19. ^ Bloolips brought radical drag to the mainstream: Hackney Gazette, March 14, 2018, Lavinia Co-op interview: Lavinia Co-op
  20. ^ Bloolips (documentary film) 1993, New York City: Bloolips
  21. ^ "Belle Reprieve". SPLIT BRITCHES. Retrieved 9 November 2022.
  22. ^ Playbill, February 25, 1998, Seattle's on The Board Imports Bloo Revue from U.K.: https://www.playbill.com/article/seattles-on-the-board-imports-bloo-revue-from-uk-feb-25-com-73640
  23. ^ A Right Pair, (review), Vada Magazine, February 8, 2013:A Right Pair
  24. ^ "DESIGNER UNKNOWN Bloolips Lust in Space". catalogue.swanngalleries.com. Retrieved 9 November 2022.
  25. ISSN 0362-4331
    . Retrieved 9 November 2022.
  26. ^ Loki, Reynard. "Bette Bourne Returns to the London Stage in Fountain's RESIDENT ALIENT". BroadwayWorld.com. Retrieved 9 November 2022.
  27. ^ "Theatre Sarrasine Lyric, Hammersmith". The Independent. 19 September 1996. Retrieved 9 November 2022.
  28. ^ Taylor, Paul (2 February 2014). "Pericles, National Theatre, Olivier, London". The Independent. London. Retrieved 24 February 2021.
  29. ^ Resident Alien, reviews, etc. http://www.timfountain.co.uk/Resident_Alien_files/Resident%20Alien%20Infomation.pdf
  30. ^ "Thumbs up for the Bourne supremacy". The Herald. 31 August 2009.
  31. ISSN 0140-0460
    .
  32. ISSN 0140-0460
    . Retrieved 28 June 2021.
  33. ^ "Donmar Warehouse | The Vortex". Archived from the original on 20 July 2008. Retrieved 30 August 2009.
  34. ISSN 0140-0460
    . Retrieved 9 November 2022.
  35. ^ "Improbable Show – Theatre of Blood". Archived from the original on 10 April 2008.
  36. ^ Ravenhill, Mark (14 October 2007). "Sometimes nothing's scarier than a bit of sponge and rubber tubing soaked in stage blood". The Guardian. London.
  37. ^ Ravenhill, Mark (23 August 2009). "The fabulous life of Bette Bourne". The Guardian. London.
  38. ^ "How We Met: Mark Ravenhill & Bette Bourne". The Independent. 11 December 2011. Retrieved 9 November 2022.
  39. ^ Ravenhill, Mark (10 April 2012). "Bette Bourne - the Queen of London". www.standard.co.uk. Archived from the original on 26 October 2018. Retrieved 24 February 2021.
  40. ^ "Bette Bourne: It Goes with the Shoes". IMDb. 14 February 2014.
  41. ^ "Bloomsbury.com". www.bloomsbury.com.
  42. ^ "Bette Bourne – Unfinished Histories".
  43. ^ "BLOOLIPS – Unfinished Histories".
  44. ^ Meet The Queens
  45. ^ Burns, Sean (15 July 2019). "In Pictures: Bloolips and the Empowering Joy of Dressing Up". Frieze. Retrieved 9 November 2022.
  46. ^ Lust In Space
  47. ^ ’What is Radical Drag and Who Were Bloolips?’ Gay Start News, July 19, 2019, Bloolips Exhibition Archived 20 July 2019 at the Wayback Machine

External links

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