US premiere of DIRK tonight and on stage in LA till the 3rd December

The US premiere of Dirk, the play, will be staged tonight by Road Theatre in Los Angeles at 8 PM (local time).

DIRK will play September 29 to December 3, 2006, playing Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. The production will be dark on November 24 for Thanksgiving.

Where? -

The Road Theatre Company 5108 Lankershim Blvd. North Hollywood CA 91601 (2 blocks South of Magnolia in the NoHo Arts District) Note: Listings should be under main heading of Road Theatre Company not Lankershim Arts Center

When? -

Previews: September 26th, 27th & 28th at 8 p.m. Opens:Friday, September 29th at 8 p.m. Runs: Thursday, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sun. at 2 p.m. Closes: Sunday, December 3rd Dark: Friday, November 24th for Thanksgiving

TICKET RESERVATIONS: (866) 811-4111 OR BUY TICKETS ONLINE: www.roadtheatre.org PRESS RESERVATIONS: Call Marci Hill (310) 877-2868 LADCC, ADA, OVATION VOTER RESERVATIONS: Call (818) 761-8829

Preview Tickets: Opening Night Gala Tickets: Regular Tickets: $15 $35 $20

H&T just wrapped their new movie

Just got this mail from Garth Jennings, director of the H2G2 movie, and who is working with Nick Goldsmith on their new movie "son of Rambow : a home movie" : "All is well here. we wrapped the movie on Monday afternoon. The shoot was a very big success and the post production is already in full swing. ".

Great news. Can't wait to see the movie. Of course a lot of the guys who are part of the Hammer & Tongs family and worked on the H2G2 movie are also working on this new movie : composer Joby Talbot, Dominic Leung (film editor), Joel Collins (production designer),...

If you want to get more informations about Son of Rambow check the official movie website

Douglas Adams exclusive pics at douglasadams.se!

Some time ago, Duke already published some private photos of Doulgas Adams taken by his friend and neigbour Chris Ogle. We had the oportunity to see great pics of Douglas and his family on vacation (skiing in Telluride, March 2001 & celebrating Christmas in Fiji, 2000).

Now Duke has published nine new assorted private photos also taken by Chris Ogle. If you want to see Douglas in everyday life action, you can't miss these moving or funny pics.

Chris Ogle pictures of Douglas are here !

H2G2 tertiary phase DVD-A details and cover !

Finally the long wait is almost over. The H2G2 tertiary phase DVD-A is almost here with 5.1 surrond sound mix, behind the scene video, photo gallery, audio extras and a complete version of the Krikkit song.

According to the great Kevin Davies (H2G2 expert and who filmed the H2G2 new radio series recordings), the behind the scene videos will include :

"Online Trailer Arthur and Ford - Together Again Marvin and Zem The New Voice of the Guide Stereo Heads - Zaphod & Trillian

All featurettes are widescreen, including the trailer which was standard ratio 4:3 online. Approx 31 mins of video content altogether.

The "improbable speed" film on Above The Title's website showing the goings-on in studio during the recording of the Q-Phases is naturally being held back for that series DVD-A should this first one prove successful...

...Which it will!" (posted on douglasadams.se forum)

Well you can already pre-order the DVD at the BBC online shop. The official release date is the 2nd October.

South bank show & Hyperland on Guba.com

Two great items for Douglas Adams fans are now easily avalaible for free to download on guba.com. If you type Doulgas Adams, you will currently find two rare vids : Hyperland and the South bank show.
- Hyperland is "one-hour documentary produced by the BBC in 1990, Douglas falls asleep in front of a television and dreams about future time when he may be allowed to play a more active role in the information he chooses to digest. A software agent, Tom (played by Tom Baker), guides Douglas around a multimedia information landscape, examining (then) cuttting-edge research by the SF Multimedia Lab and NASA Ames research center, and encountering hypermedia visionaries such as Vannevar Bush and Ted Nelson. Looking back now, it's interesting to see how much he got right and how much he didn't: these days, no one's heard of the SF Multimedia Lab, and his super-high-tech portrayal of VR in 2005 could be outdone by a modern PC with a 3D card. However, these are just minor niggles when you consider how much more popular the technologies in question have become than anyone could have predicted - for while Douglas was creating Hyperland, a student at CERN in Switzerland was working on a little hypertext project he called the World Wide Web..." (source : douglasadams.com).
- The South bank show was aired in 1992 on ITV when "Mostly Harmless" was released. It features interviews with Douglas, Stephen Fry, Richard Dawkins, John Lloyd, Geoffrey Perkins... There are also some intercut dramatic scenes whith characters from Douglas Adams' books (Simon Jones & David Dixon are here of course but there is also Michael Bywater who plays Dirk Gently)

New audiobook versions of H2G2 read by Martin Freeman

In April 2005, Pan Macmillian published a new movie tie-in edition of The Hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy audiobook read by Stephen Fry (who is also well known for being the UK voice for the Harry Potter books and who was of course the narrator in the H2G2 movie). Surprisingly, Pan Macmillan has decided to publish the other four books of the H2G2 trilogy in five parts… read this time by actor Martin Freeman (Arthur Dent in the movie).

“The restaurant at the end of the universe” is already available since the beginning of June. “Life, the universe and everything” will be there soon the 1st September. Other books will follow till the end of the year : “So long and thanks for all the fish” will be there the 6st October and “Mostly harmless” the 1st December.
These versions will be the third version of the Hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy series audiobooks in English after the abridged reading of the four first books by Stephen Moore (Marvin in the radio series. These audiobooks were Published by Emi Listen For Pleasure on tapes at the begining of the eighties) and the unabridged version by Douglas Adams (this last version is still available in the BBC word for word collection in UK and New Millenium Audio in US).

A DIRK stage play in Southern California

DIRK GENTLY'S HOLISTIC DETECTIVE AGENCY by Douglas Adams was adapted into a stage play by James Goss and Arvind Ethan David and is in production to open September 29th 2006 in Los Angeles, CA. It is the first profesionnal theatre production of Dirk Gently in the US.

I'll try to get soon an interview with the guys. Here is anyway their press release :
"Following on the success of smash hits such as NAPOLI MILIONARIA, THE WOMAN IN BLACK, OUROBOROS, and BUNBURY, the Ovation Award-winning Road Theatre Company will produce the professional US Premiere of DIRK, a quirky, witty and highly entertaining offering from the mind of Douglas Adams, directed by Jeff Griffith. A perfect way to begin the Road’s 16th season!
...
Director Jeff Griffith has been with the Road Theatre Company the past 3 years, where he has stage-managed the critically acclaimed and award winning productions of NAPOLI MILIONARIA and THE WOMAN IN BLACK. Jeff has also assistant directed with Deborah LaVine for SEVENTH MONARCH and Michael Michetti for OUROBOROS. DIRK marks Jeff’s Road Theatre debut as director.
The production is supported by producers Helen Harwell, Amy Buffington, Scot Burklin, and Julie Quinn with multimedia elements produced by Tye Beeby; digital scenography Anaitte Vaccaro; sound designer David B. Marling; publicist Marci Hill; and production stage manager and multimedia director Matt Kaiser. DIRK will play September 29 to December 3, 2006, playing Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. The production will be dark on November 24 for Thanksgiving."
MORE INFOS ON THE OFFICIAL WEBSITE HERE