Death and Taxis

Original version

BBC Radio 4 LW

BBC Radio 4 FM

Ronni Ancona

Scott Capurro

Jon Culshaw

Abdul Salis

Kerry Shale

Sherman Martin T

Sean Grundy

David Morley

Dirk Maggs

Death and Taxis: Episode 4

Episode 4

BBC Radio 4 - Death and Taxis, Episode 4

Andy Warhol's acclaimed diaries brought to life in four short dramas by Sean Grundy.

Dramatised by Sean Grundy, Warhol captures New York high society from 1976 to 1987. Based on The Andy Warhol Diaries, edited by Pat Hackett. 

Adapted by Sean Grundy and starring Scott Capurro as Andy Warhol. Also starring Ronni Ancona, Jon Culshaw and Kerry Shale. 

Everyone who is anyone in New York from 1976 to 1987 is in Warhol's diary - from Mick Jagger to Donald Trump.

"Friday, August 30, 1978: The doorbell rang and it was Liza. She said, 'give me every drug you've got.' I gave them some coke, Valium and four Quaaludes. A little figure in a white hat came up, and it was Marty Scorsese, hiding around the corner. He and Liza went off to have their affair on all the drugs. (Valium $1)"

Beginning in the fall of 1976, America’s most famous artist Andy Warhol talked to his secretary by phone at 9:00 AM, every Monday to Friday morning, for ten years. He would talk about the events of the previous day, and his office would transcribe his monologues into diary pages. 

The diary began as a careful recording of his use of money, from phone calls to nickels for bag-ladies to cab rides (lots of cab rides), but quickly evolved into Warhol’s personal observations. It was posthumously published in 1989 - a condensed version of Andy’s more-than-20,000 page, phoned-in audit/diary. 

The core themes to the dramas are Warhol’s loves (art, men, fame, money, mainly money) and his fears (failure, embarrassment, death, mainly death). 

The episodes follow four key themes, using four people in Andy’s life from 76-87 - homeless Crazy Matty, Warhol’s boyfriend Jon Gould, writer Truman Capote and artist Jean-Michel Basquiat. Woven into this world are buddies Mick and Bianca Jagger, Jerry Hall, Liza Minnelli and Donald Trump. 

Nobody escapes his sharp tongue.

Cast:
JERRY HALL..................................................................RONNI ANCONA 
ANDY WARHOL.............................................................SCOTT CAPURRO 
MICK JAGGER / DR BERNSOHN/ DONALD TRUMP...........JON CULSHAW 
JEAN MICHEL BASQUIAT...............................................ABDUL SALIS
BRUNO BISCHOFBERGER / CRAZY MATTY......................KERRY SHALE
BOUNCER.....................................................................MARTIN T SHERMAN


Based on The Andy Warhol Diaries, edited by Pat Hackett
Writer: Sean Grundy
Producer: David Morley
Director: Dirk Maggs

A Perfectly Normal production for BBC Radio 4

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Four short dramas by Sean Grundy based on The Andy Warhol Diaries.

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