“Tim Fountain’s wonderful one-man play”
Time Out
Based on the life and writings of Quentin Crisp, starring the legendary Bette Bourne the show opened at the Bush Theatre in November 1999 in a production directed by Mike Bradwell. It transferred to New York Theatre Workshop in 2001 where it played a three month sell-out season and won two OBIE awards. The show won a Herald Angel at the Edinburgh Festival and has enjoyed sold out runs across America, Australia and the UK. In 2005 it enjoyed a hugely successful North American tour. It has also been broadcast on BBC Radio 3. It returned to London for a ten week season at The New End Theatre in 2009.
“Wise, witty and really rather
wonderful… a marvellously diverting
and coherent show… Bette Bourne’s
performance was character-acting at
its finest, showing us how a seemingly
outrageous way of living can tell us more
about ourselves than we might realise.
There lay the serious undercurrent of a
splendidly crafted and acted play. The
rest was sheer entertainment.
Daily Mail (London)
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“Resident Alien elevates a minor cultural
icon to the pantheon of immortals”
The Boston Globe
“Bette Bourne is one of the most compelling
figures I have ever seen on a stage.”
Financial Times
“Bourne is superb: funny, touching,
unsentimental, sometimes even profound.”
The Times
“Thanks to Fountain’s heartfelt production and
Bette Bourne’s remarkable acting the text does
not simply induce rueful laughter in performance.
It achieves a stinging pathos, too…
The tremendous Bette Bourne plays Crisp to
the manner reborn. Bourne is almost uncannily
Quentin… Fountain’s script and Bourne’s
performance remind us Crisp was that rare thing
– an authentic gay hero.
London Evening Standard
“Resident Alien is a compilation of wit,
wisdom and reminiscence… a superb study
of a style that represses sentiment.”
The New York Times
“Bourne’s interpretation extends beyond
mimicry and resurrects Crisp with compassion,
vitality and truth.”
Sydney Morning Herald
