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The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy Radio Show Live, directed by Dirk Maggs, is an incredible production.
Before I went to see it, on Tuesday October 8th, I read a review which said the first half wasn’t as good as the second half, but I thought it was cracking stuff from start to finish, so I’m not quite sure how they could’ve come to that conclusion. Is that because there’s a handful of songs in the second half? For my money, it was pretty much everything I could’ve hoped for, given that it’s taking a number of key scenes from all the different forms of the show and turning them into a stage show whilst also retaining continuity throughout, although I’m sure the scene with the Captain of the Golgrafinchan B-Ark came earlier than it should compared to the TV show, but then it might’ve been correct according to the book.
While I’ve read The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy and The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, as well as parts of the others, that was some time ago and I am mainly familiar with the TV series which I’ve watched countless times. I’ve also seen the film, of course, but the least said about that the better. It was such a mess and the only well-cast actors were Sam Rockwell as Zaphod and Zooey Deschanel as Trillian. Martin Freeman played Arthur Dent way too straight and Mos Def was just NOT Ford Prefect.
When it comes to the cast, there’s no-one better for the lead of Arthur Dent than Simon Jones. I know him best from the TV show, but along the way he’s also excelled in the radio show role. Both Geoffrey McGivern and Susan Sheridan are the original radio series and are also superb here but, again, I am more familiar with David Dixon and Sandra Dickinson. I have to say that, even at 66, Ms Sheridan is looking superb for her age. Mitch Benn is quite a revelation as Zaphod Beeblebrox – this is the first time I’ve seen him in the role and, as with both Mark Wing-Davey (TV series & radio) and Sam Rockwell (film), he makes it his own, for sure.
Add to this, Toby Longworth as Slartibartfast; Andy Secombe – who I hadn’t seen before – billed on the website as Max Quordlepleen, although also performing other roles in the show, and on radio was the voice of Colin the Security Robot in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: Quintessential Phase; and the stunning Samantha Béart as Arthur & Trillian’s daughter, Random, as well as operating Zaphod’s second head. Marvin the Paranoid Android is operated by Tom Alexander (billed in the programme as “Marvin’s plastic pal”) while the voice, naturally, comes from Stephen Moore. And there’s also Philip Pope, who I remember best from Channel 4’s Who Dares Wins back in the 80s, but who is the Musical Director, plays keyboards and first appeared onstage alongside Andy Secombe as, respectively, Phouchg and Loonquawl, who ask Deep Thought for the answer to the Ultimate Question.
Go to page 2 to find out who was the Voice of the Book at the show I attended, as well as a look at some of the merchandise you can buy.
The assignment of the Voice of the Book each night tends to be a bit random, if you’ll forgive the use of a character’s name as a verb, but while there are some voices I’d like to hear, and some actors I’m not fond of on this tour, I inadvertently chose well for the night in question as the Book was read by Danny John-Jules, aka Cat from Red Dwarf. Not only did he do a stirling job of being the Voice, while sat in full view of the audience on a leather-bound chair, but he also appeared on stage at the Restaurant at the End of the Universe as the ‘meat’. And what type of meat was it? Cat, of course!
On stage throughout, you’ll notice there’s an image of Douglas Adams under the table sat next to whoever is reading the Book, and at the end, the cast give a big thumbs up to the man when the late creator appears on the video wall at the back of the stage. In fact, I hadn’t mentioned that until now, but it changes throughout the show to reflect the current environment and is fantastically clever and effective in that.
Kudos also go to the band onstage, beginning with Pink Floyd’s One of These Days, as did Act II, but that time it quickly segued into the Doctor Who theme, and the show concluded with the Hitchhiker’s Guide theme.
There was also plenty of merchandise on show (I went for a Mug (£10), a Marvin key-ring (£15) and a T-shirt (£25)) and, quite brilliantly, for £9.99 you can buy the audio from the very show you attended, once it appears online (“around 10 of your Earth days” after the performance), which can be bought here.
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One accidental moment also came to mind, in the First Act, when Arthur was getting a drink from the Nutrimatic Drinks Dispenser (also Samantha Béart) and while he didn’t enjoy the first cup of tea, the second cup dropped down and fell over… showing there was nothing in it. Simon Jones quickly looked at the audience, which made us all laugh in hysterics, then went back to the second cup. He righted it, then pretended to tip some tea from the first cup into it, and then drank from the second cup… and exclaimed, “Ugh! …Tastes the same!”
Cue more hysterics.
This is such an incredible show. Go see it before it finishes its run on November 30th!
Rating: 10
NOTE: As of October 21st, and for the foreseeable, the tour has been cancelled, due to poor ticket sales. This is such sad news. The following message has been put on their site:
- “The Radio Theatre Company deeply regret to announce the immediate cancellation of The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy Radio Show 2013 Tour. Tonight’s performance at The Hawth, Crawley and tomorrow’s at the Watford Colosseum will not take place, nor will any of the remaining scheduled shows in October and November. Ticket holders are being contacted and should contact venues for refunds.
Although a well-loved show, Hitchhiker’s Live has been subject to the same extreme economic pressures as many productions touring the UK this autumn. Ticket sales across the board have been lower than average and we have not escaped this trend. A difficult financial environment for such a large and technical show means that covering operating costs has become impossible. As a result in the last 24 hours we have had no option but make the extremely hard and painful decision to stop the tour.
We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience this may cause and share the extreme disappointment and frustration felt by many who were looking forward to seeing the show. we sincerely hope that it can be brought back in the future.”
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.
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