I grew up with The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy.
I remember listening to the radio series in primary school over and over and I read the book continuously quoting from it continually as a kid, adoring it completely. It has been created into every medium, but it was first and foremost a radio series before anything else.
Now the original radio series cast are touring the country with guest celebrities such Terry Jones, Phil Jupitus, Clive Anderson, Jon Culshaw, Neil Gaiman and others as the guide, and the odd extra cast member, due to some of the original cast being dead (not due to tax reasons).
I went to the Woking Theatre performance with Clive Anderson as the book. An amazing band start off the show blaring out the theme song (originally by The Eagles)
The first part is the first book more or less with a mixture of radio cast, nods from the book and TV series with a fantastic sound effects team recreating all the noises and whirls of the book. Marvin is my favourite character but visual representations of him have never been quite right but this production has created the perfect Marvin, the electronic sulking machine himself.
The second part plays around more with the book creating a story using parts from all 5 books. The show is fun, interactive love-note to the fabulous work of the late great Douglas Adams. There are songs, cheers, mistakes, self deprecation and it works to create an entirely new format.
A must for Hitchhikers fans, and for the uninitiated a great introduction to Douglas Adam’s beautiful humour and fantastical legacy. If you get a chance to see it the show is touring around the UK until the end of the month.
For more info visit – www.hitchhikerslive.com
Photos by James Bullmore