Comedy play based on Douglas Adams real life incarceration in a hotel by his editor set to hit Edinburgh Festival

Posted on 24 July 2019
By Andy Johnson
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A play about Douglas Adams being held captive in a hotel room and being forced to write The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy is set to take Edinburgh Fringe by storm after wowing theatre audiences across the country.

Opening at PQA Venues at Riddles Court on (August 9th) WE APOLOGISE FOR THE INCONVENIENCE is based on the real life incident in 1984 when Douglas Adams, notoriously bad with deadlines, was so far behind schedule writing the fourth Hitchhiker novel that his editor locked him in a London hotel suite and wouldn’t let him out until the book was finished.

The play sees the young writer facing an existential crisis about the nature and cultural resonance of his creation.

All while trying to avoid the temptation of a master procrastinator bath session and the personification of his rubber duck, who comes to life to convince Douglas to allow the might of his pen to free them from their luxurious prison.

Produced by Room 5064 Productions, WE APOLOGISE FOR THE INCONVENIENCE is written by Mark Griffiths, who has previously created material for comedy greats like Mel Smith & Griff Rhys Jones, Roy Hudd and Charlie Brooker.

Starring Adam Gardiner as Douglas Adams and Rob Stuart-Hudson as The Duck, the mysterious hyper-dimensional entity who tries to persuade Adams to finish his book.

Producer Gareth Kavanagh said: “We are delighted to bringing We Apologise For The Inconvenience up to the Edinburgh Fringe. It’s a very special play, which we feel we have honed to near perfection. All the cast and crew are highly excited to be playing where great comedy lives.”

You can see WE APOLOGISE FOR THE INCONVENIENCE at PQA Venues at Riddles Court on the Royal Mile from August 9th-16th.

The first reviews were exemplary:

“What fun! Excellent writing. Very much in Douglas’s vein and very convincingly recreating his thought processes.” – Simon Jones, who played ‘Arthur Dent’ in both the original radio and television series of Hitchhikers.

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