Katie Dawkins – Ford Prefect

People who have read the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams are well aware of the unusual characters who travel his universe. For example, the protagonist, Arthur Dent, is trying to discover his meaning in the universe; the President of the Galaxy, Zaphod Beeblebrox, is trying to find out who has the real power in the government, and it goes on and on. However, there is one character without any sort of major motivation, and that is Ford Prefect. This attitude is what made him stand out to Katie Dawkins.

“He was sort of a dilatant, he didn’t have a particular vested interest in any of these wacky adventures they were going on,” said Dawkins. “I thought that I could relate to that. I don’t really know what I’m doing now. I’m going to find out as much as I can on my way.”

Characterizing these wacky adventures was one of the hardest parts of the process. Dawkins was constantly rewriting the screenplay to make sure the script made sense. The original series incorporated science fiction, humor and even some social commentary, so there was a lot of balancing going on. It was a difficult process to make sure all of the factors come into light.

Despite all of the challenges, Dawkins learned how broad her limits are during her time doing the one person show. She was surprised by how much she could do when she put her mind to it.