INFINITE IMPROBABILITY

STEP INTO THE MIND OF DOUGLAS ADAMS WITH AN IMMERSIVE NEW PRODUCTION OF THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY

- WORDS: NICK SETCHFIELD

Some might say that the genius of Douglas Adams will live forever.

Originally a 1978 BBC radio serial before it became a ferociously quotable franchise of novels, LPs and commemorative towels, alongside a videogame and live-action adaptations, both big-screen and small, Hitchhiker's can be safely filed under “phenomenon”.

Adams's absurdist cosmic fable has been brought to the stage before - madcap Ken Campbell directed the first theatrical take at the ICA in May 1979 - but never quite like this, promises David. Opening this November at London's Riverside Studios, the production draws on the traditions of immersive and musical theatre, dance and magic to put the audience alongside Arthur Dent and his legendary jim-jams as he takes that life-changing hyperspatial detour. Yes, you too will struggle to get the hang of Thursdays.

A WHALE OF A TIME

“Hitchhiker's is famously unadaptable,” says David, who produced a Tony-nominated Broadway musical based on Alanis Morissette's album Jagged Little Pill. “Whenever you try and make it into a medium that demands a linear narrative, like a film or traditional play, it doesn’t work that well. I was finally at a point in my own capability as a writer and as a creative where I could say, ‘Okay, I'm ready for the white whale’, which is Hitchhiker's.

“We had a medium that was right for it, which is immersive theatre. Because what Hitchhiker's is about is an attitude, a tone, a set of extraordinary characters and a set of extraordinary ideas. In an open-form space, like immersive theatre, which is not fully constrained by the need for a three-act structure, you can do some of that. The challenge is doing it and still giving a satisfying emotional arc to everyone’s experience. That’s the challenge we've set ourselves.”