Bourne sweeps in. clad in feminine. flowing gowns. wig. huge ('risp-like hat. and a pair of those big shades ladies Used to wear in the 70s. With enough white slap on to sink a tugboat. he clearly feels that discretion is the better part of pallor. He comments on the admiring looks he‘d got on his walk to Fountain‘s flat. then trips me with his gay code word. ()nce recovered. l chuckle. and continue to chuckle almost unabated for the next hour.
He doesn‘t really look like (‘risp — a close friend for many years until his death in 199‘) — and barely sounds like him. yet there is something about this skilled actor that catches the essence of the man. He‘s a performer. not an impersonator. As the interview proceeds. he slips effortlessly in and out of his character to the point that you aren't sure which is which. and there‘s little difference between ‘the real fake and the fake take. as Bourne puts it.
I ask him about the difference between himself and his old friend. "Well. he didn’t like sex.‘ says Bourne. who played a castrato-diva in Neil Bartlett's Surrusine. Lady Bracknell in The [III/mrtttltt'e n/‘b’eing liar/test. as well as starring in the queer comedy ensemble Bloolips. ‘l‘m rather devoted to sex. I try to get involved in it as much as I can.‘ As he says this. he slides the shades down his nose and gives me a long look tip and down over them. Have you ever been goosed by a pair of eyes‘.’ ‘And he didn‘t like music. he felt it killed conversation. I love music. And I was a figure in the gay liberation front in the early 70s. of which he linnly disapproved.’
This is a paradox and I pursue Bourne on the often controversial views that (‘risp expressed. many of which drew hostile reactions even from within the gay community. He goes into (‘risp mode: ‘I lost the love of all the homosexual men in America in a single night when I said that Princess Diana was trash. and got what she deserved. She was Lady Diana before she was Princess Diana. so she knew the racket. She knew royal marriages were nothing to do with love. all you had to do was stand next to your husband and do this [he adds the royal wave]. And for that you never have a financial wony for the rest of your life. and you‘re photographed wherever you go. What more does a woman want‘."
Fountain comes in to mitigate: ‘lt became a notorious statement in America. where he‘d gone to live. in the mid—late 90s. He didn‘t mean she deserved to die. he was just saying she wasn‘t the innocent. small-town girl she was made out to be.‘
Perhaps this was part of the unguessable. fascinating character of Crisp. ‘You never got bored with him. because there was this great veneer of irony.‘ says Bourne. ‘You never quite knew if he was taking the piss. Very often he’d come out with something outrageous and fascist. and then you‘d see him watching you to see how you’d react to it. But he just didn't like the concept of normality.‘
Fountain. who‘s also the director of Puppetry ()f The Penis.
adds an appropriate Crispian aphorism: ‘()nly the residents of
Montana would seek to win friends by advertising their normality.‘ Boume comes in on cue: ‘()h. yes it‘s a frightening place. I walked around a mall in Montana. and l was nearly shot. I got straight back on the bus.‘
As to the show itself. Fountain explains the very particular character that has brought it such success in the US. ‘lt‘s not like an audience with Quentin Crisp. it‘s a play. a very definite joumey. But it's also like an hour in his room. at home with him.‘
liven Crisp‘s notoriously clarty room is included. The play expounds his famous theory about ‘holding your nen'e‘ for four years without cleaning. Fountain has many memories of (‘risp‘s gaff in the period over which he interviewed him about his life to compile the show. '()ne of the curtain rails had fallen down.‘ says Fountain. ‘and instead of putting it back up. he‘d just driven a fork into the wall to keep the curtain in place.‘ Boume adds: “It was simply beyond belief.‘
But for all the urge toward the outrageous. Crisp‘s long life was one which turned up many a philosophical moment. Bourne quotes him: ‘Ask yourself. if there was no praise and no blame. who would I be then'.’ Then you‘ll know who you are and what your style is.‘
Bette knows what his is. and he‘s all the better for it.
Resident Alien, Assembly Rooms, 3-27 Aug, 1 1.50am.
‘Quentin
Crisp didn’t like sex. I’m rather devoted to it. I try to get involved in it as much as I can.’
Artist in Resident: Bette Bourne catches the essence of Crisp
THE WIT AND WISDOM OF QUENTIN CRISP
On fame‘
‘/ am not famous, I am notorious and if/ am rich it is because / have taken my wages in people.’
On aesthetics ‘My appearance is simply a leaflet thrust into the hands Of astonished
bystanders.’ I
On morality ‘Crisp '3 First Law: if you feel you cannot
comply with the morality of the world, you must do everything else you can to be agreeable. ’
On masculinity 'Some roughs are really queer and some queers are really rough. '
On health ‘/t is better to be a polite invalid than to enjoy rude health. '
Quentin Crisp: not advertising normality
' THE LIST FESTIVAL GUIDE 17