In 1990, Bourne and Paul Shaw appeared with
Lois Weaver and Peggy Shaw in
Belle Reprieve, which Bourne and Shaw had a hand in writing. The play was produced by
Split Britches and performed in London, New York, San Francisco, Boston, and Seattle. The show won an
OBIE Award for Ensemble Production in 1991. In the
New York Times, a reviewer dismissed the show's claim to be a "musical sendup" of Tennessee Williams's
A Streetcar Named Desire and wrote that it was a cabaret act that referenced that play "only as a point of departure" and "there is little to connect the two works, even as a takeoff". He praised some of the musical numbers–"another number in which three paper lanterns do a tap dance is lively"–but judged the show "sophomoric" with "little originality". He noted the four actors' "energy". In 1991, Bourne appeared as the 250-year-old La Zambinella in
Neil Bartlett and Nick Bloomfield's production of
Sarrasine at New York's
Dance Theater Workshop.
Stephen Holden called it a "bravura performance" and described Bourne as "a phantasmal apotheosis of a renegade erotic spirit, at once a ruined (though regal) grand dame and a sad clown". Bourne reprised that role at the
Lyric Hammersmith in 1996. On 9 October 1994, he joined McKellen,
Stephen Fry, and others in a benefit reading of Wilde's
The Ballad of Reading Gaol at the Lyric Theatre in Hammersmith that was broadcast on BBC Radio 3. In 1997, Bourne performed in New York City in a production of Ray Dobbins' one-man show
East of Eadie. The
New York Times reviewer found much to criticize but thought Bourne had "some excellent material" and "gives the impression of being able to charm by just standing there". She praised Bourne's "splendid Noel Coward imitation" singing "Why Must the Frock Go On?" and the way he delivered his lines in his "wonderful, deep Tallulah-like voice". That same year Bourne won a
Manchester Evening News award for his performance as Lady Bracknell in the
English Touring Theatre production of Wilde's
The Importance of Being Earnest. That role was Bourne's first as a female impersonator, chosen only after he determined that "a caricature was not required". In 1998, Bourne and Shaw visited the US with a best of Bloolips production tilted
Bloo Revue: A Bloolips Retrospectacle, a series of sketches "in an extremely loopy vein", said one glowing review. In 1999, Bourne played his friend
Quentin Crisp in
Tim Fountain's play,
Resident Alien, at London's
Bush Theatre. The production toured widely and played in
New York City and
Sydney.
Ben Brantley described its New York incarnation as "a compilation of wit, wisdom and reminiscence, delivered by an elderly person for whom personal style is a life force" and praised Bourne for "a performance that sweetens clinical observation with beneath-the-skin empathy". Bourne's work received an OBIE for performance. At the
Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2001, Bourne won a
Herald Award for his portrayal of Crisp. Fountain wrote two more plays for Bourne:
H-O-T-B-O-I, which was produced at the
Soho Theatre in 2004, and
Rock in 2008. Bourne played the role of Pauncefort Quentin in the
Donmar Warehouse production of
Noël Coward's
The Vortex in 2002, for which he won the
Clarence Derwent Award. In 2005, he appeared in Ray Dobbins'
Read My Hips at London's
Drill Hall, playing the gay 20th-century Greek poet
Cavafy. Bourne worked with Bartlett again at the Lyric Hammersmith in 2003, as the narrator in a production of
Shakespeare's
Pericles, Prince of Tyre starring
Will Keen. More Shakespeare followed in 2004 when Bourne played the nurse in
Romeo and Juliet at Shakespeare's Globe. In 2005 at the
Royal National Theatre Bourne played in Improbable Theatre's stage adaptation of the film
Theatre of Blood. For the
Royal Shakespeare Company, Bourne played Dogberry in
Shakespeare's
Much Ado About Nothing at London's
Novello Theatre in 2007. In
Variety David Benedict wrote that the director dealt with the "usually unfunny" character by casting Bourne, who "plays marvelously high-status as a doddering gay captain of the guard and savors every last syllable of his character's language-mangling to high comic effect". That same year Bourne worked with the playwright Mark Ravenhill on a short play,
Ripper, staged at the
Union Theatre in London. Bourne played the role of
Queen Victoria. 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. In 2013, Bourne and Shaw gave a special retrospective performance titled
A Right Pair, charting their journey together over 40 years with monologues and turns from selected productions. In 2022, Bette appeared alongside Shaw as the Queen at Duckie's Alternative Royal Command event held at the
Queen Elizabeth Hall, part of the
Platinum Jubilee celebrations. ==Tributes==