Acclaimed play about Douglas Adams comes to vinyl and CD

‘We Apologise For The Inconvenience’ adapted into an audio drama for vinyl and CD.

An acclaimed stage play about Douglas Adams’s struggles with writer’s block has been adapted into an audio drama for vinyl and CD.

We Apologise For The Inconvenience tells, in fictionalised form, the story of the time in 1984 when Douglas Adams was so far behind schedule writing the fourth novel in his Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy trilogy, So Long And Thanks For All The Fish, that his editor locked him up in a hotel room and refused to let him leave until the book was finished. In the play, Adams’s plastic duck comes to life and attempts to chivvy the reluctant author out of the bath and back to his typewriter in time to meet his deadline.

Writer Mark Griffiths, whose previous credits include gags for the likes of Mel Smith & Griff Rhys Jones, Roy Hudd and Charlie Brooker, says the project has been a labour of love. “We wanted the audio version to pay homage to those wonderful LP versions of Hitchhiker’s Guide put out by Original Records in the late 1970s. We have an amazing cover designed by Doctor Who artist Will Brooks and fantastic music by Paul Philips in the style of Tim Souster and Paddy Kingsland’s electronic soundtracks. It’s also a real thrill to be doing this in 2020 – appropriately enough, the 42nd anniversary of the first broadcast of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy on Radio 4.”

In the audio play, Douglas Adams is portrayed by Adam Gardiner and the part of the Duck is played by Rob Stuart-Hudson. Both recreate their stage roles.

Adam Gardiner as Douglas and Rob Stuart-Hudson as The Duck

The original theatrical version, which proved a hit at last year’s Edinburgh Fringe and which was performed at the British Library in March as part of its special day of Douglas Adams celebrations, has found several fans among those with Hitchhiker’s Guide connections, including Douglas Adams’s half-brother James Thrift and TV graphics animator Kevin Davies. Simon Jones, the original Arthur Dent, said of the play, “What fun! Excellent writing. Very much in Douglas’s vein and a very convincing insight into the workings of his mind.”

‘We Apologise For The Inconvenience’  is now available as a limited edition LP in gatefold sleeve, individually signed by the author and numbered, and as a CD containing special bonus material. Both can be ordered from tinyurl.com/bath42


❉ News source: Room 5064 Productions.

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