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The hedonistic cabaret scene of Berlin in the Thirties
is in full swing when wide-eyed young writer Christopher
Isherwood (Matt Smith) arrives in the city, unable
to speak a word of German.
To
Isherwood's reserved English sensibility, the city's
thriving gay subculture is thrilling and intoxicating,
but he soon finds himself heartbroken after the failure
of a hopeless love affair, and so sets out on a process
of self-discovery.
Written
by acclaimed playwright Kevin Elyot, this one-off
drama, chronicling the formative years of Christopher
Isherwood, stars Lindsay Duncan, Imogen Poots, Toby
Jones and Douglas Booth with Matt Smith in the title
role.
Imogen
Poots plays Jean Ross, an aspiring actress and singer
who provided Christopher with the inspiration for
the Sally Bowles character of Cabaret fame; Toby Jones
plays Gerald Hamilton, a peculiar man who provided
the inspiration for the title character in the celebrated
Isherwood novel Mr Norris Changes Trains; Pip Carter
plays Wystan Auden, the famous poet with a droll sense
of humour, who persuaded Christopher to join him in
Berlin, and Douglas Booth plays Heinz, a street cleaner
with whom Christopher falls in love.
Christopher
And His Kind tells the story of how Isherwood escapes
repressive English society and his suffocating relationship
with his mother Kathleen (Lindsay Duncan) for the
decadent and politically unstable world of pre-war
Berlin.
Funded
by BBC 2 "Christopher and his Kind" is currently
on the gay film festival circuit.
- Feb 19 11
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