Shows
Shelf LifeBiographer Katherine Bucknell on Christopher Isherwood's Odyssey from Weimar Berlin to CaliforniaSend us a textWhat can we learn from Weimar Germany and its rapid unraveling in the 1930s? Lately that question has gained more urgency as the US turns away from the trans-Atlantic alliance that has underpinned European security for the past 80 years. For Katherine Bucknell, no writer was better placed than Christopher Isherwood for understanding the speed with which a country can slide into autocracy. It was his book Goodbye to Berlin that became the basis for the musical, Cabaret. Without Isherwood, no Sally Bowles. But the author’s legacy stretches far beyond Berlin, encompassing gay li...2025-03-0452 min
Better KnownKatherine BucknellKatherine Bucknell discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.
Katherine Bucknell edited all four volumes of Christopher Isherwood's Diaries , a volume of letters between Christopher Isherwood and his partner Don Bachardy (The Animals), and W.H. Auden's Juvenilia: Poems 1922-1928. Co-editor of Auden Studies, a founder of The W. H. Auden Society, and director of the Christopher Isherwood Foundation, she is widely recognised as a leading authority on Isherwood, and her new biography Christopher Isherwood Inside Out is now available. She is also the author of five novels. She was born in Vietnam, raised...2024-07-0728 min
The International Anthony Burgess Foundation PodcastNinety-Nine Novels: A Single Man by Christopher IsherwoodIn 1984, Anthony Burgess published Ninety-Nine Novels, a selection of his favourite novels in English since 1939. The list is typically idiosyncratic, and shows the breadth of Burgess's interest in fiction. This podcast, by the International Anthony Burgess Foundation, explores the novels on Burgess's list with the help of writers, critics and other special guests.In this episode, Andrew Biswell explores Christopher Isherwood’s 1964 novel A Single Man. Guiding him through the novel is Isherwood's authorised biographer and editor of his letters and diaries, Katherine Bucknell.A Single Man tells the story of George, an En...2023-10-1148 min
The Animals PodcastCoda: Don Bachardy at Eighty-twoWith an appearance by Don Bachardy.Don Bachardy, from the home he shared with Christopher Isherwood in Santa Monica, talks about the 1979 Broadway production of A Meeting by the River, about his relationship with Chris, and about Vedanta. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.2017-07-2122 min
The Animals PodcastEpisode Ten: A Meeting by the River, Directed by Anthony Page, Act IIPlayful sparring between the brothers deepens to rivalry and self-doubt. Patrick’s secret love life is exposed. Spiritual darkness closes around Oliver, and he calls upon the memory of his guru to show him a way forward. Dominic West, Kyle Soller, Penelope Wilton and Annabel Mullion star in this audio adaptation of Isherwood and Bachardy’s A Meeting by the River. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.2017-07-1457 min
The Animals PodcastEpisode Nine: A Meeting by the River, Directed by Anthony Page, Act ITwo brothers confront each other in a monastery beside the Ganges. One plans to renounce the world, the other tries to stop him. Adapted by Christopher Isherwood and Don Bachardy from Isherwood’s last novel, A Meeting by the River is a daring, ruthless, and joyfully comic meditation on the nature of love and the question of whether god exists. Dominic West, Kyle Soller, Penelope Wilton and Annabel Mullion star in this audio production. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.2017-07-0749 min
The Animals PodcastA Meeting by the River: TrailerA play by Christopher Isherwood and Don Bachardy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.2017-07-0302 min
The Animals PodcastEpisode Eight: “Our Play”Chris adapts a George Bernard Shaw story for the LA stage to much acclaim; Don is commissioned to paint the Queen’s cousin, the Earl of Harewood, and sells a portrait of W.H. Auden to the National Portrait Gallery in London. A Meeting by the River is staged in Los Angeles to a warm reception and heads to Broadway. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.2017-06-3038 min
The Animals PodcastEpisode Seven: “Unfinished Work and Unfulfilled Duties”Chris thinks increasingly about his past as he continues writing a memoir about his mother and father, Kathleen and Frank. He and Don both work towards a production of A Meeting by the River, hoping Page will direct it at the Royal Court Theatre. There is an explosion between Don and Page. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.2017-06-2325 min
The Animals PodcastEpisode Six: David Hockney’s “Giant Portrait”With an appearance by David Hockney. In Los Angeles, Hockney begins a portrait of Chris and Don. Don is still absent in London, and Hockney is unable to progress with his likeness. Don returns home only as Hockney himself departs, carrying the partly finished painting and newly snapped photos of Don from which to work. The Animals collaborate on a stage adaptation of A Meeting by the River. Don takes their script to London when Anthony Page invites him to draw the cast of Osborne’s Look Back in Anger. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for mo...2017-06-1643 min
The Animals PodcastEpisode Five: “Pandora’s Box”David Hockney, recently settled in LA, offers his London flat to the Animals; Don is able to take a short break in England. Anthony Page hires Don to draw cast portraits for his production of John Osborne’s Time Present, and, later, Hotel in Amsterdam. Don begins an affair with Page and delays his return to Santa Monica. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.2017-06-0942 min
The Animals PodcastEpisode Four: “New Friends”Don draws portraits of George Balanchine’s New York City Ballet company. Chris completes his ninth and final novel, A Meeting by the River, set in India, and he begins a memoir about his family. Researching the family memoir in England, he meets a young theatre director, Anthony Page, who proposes they make a new adaptation of Frank Wedekind’s Lulu plays. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.2017-06-0232 min
The Animals PodcastEpisode Three: “I Want to Talk Cat-Horse Again”Chris and Don's relationship breaks down. After ten years with Don in Santa Monica, Chris moves to San Francisco, where he works on his novel A Single Man, inspired by the fear of living alone. The Animals reconcile at home, and Chris travels to India with his Hindu guru, while Don, separately, also travels abroad. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.2017-05-2629 min
The Animals PodcastEpisode Two: “Something Bad Has Happened”Don’s first gallery exhibition wins praise, but his new artistic identity proves destabilizing for the Animals. He conceals a love affair from Chris, even though they have agreed to have outside relationships. Tension mounts between the lovers when Don returns home after two years. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.2017-05-1936 min
The Animals PodcastEpisode One: Introduction to The AnimalsAfter studying Christopher Isherwood for more than twenty years, Katherine Bucknell receives a package from Don Bachardy—stuffed with unpublished love letters. She ushers us back half a century into the private world of The Animals, Chris and Don, as they live, work, and travel, seldom apart, for seven years. When Don leaves their Santa Monica home to study at the Slade School of Fine Art in London, the separation is excruciating. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.2017-05-1232 min
The Animals PodcastThe Animals Podcast: TrailerThe true love story of a writer and a painter, openly gay in 1950s Hollywood. The Animals invite you into their secret world. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.2017-05-0201 min