Last Updated on February 17, 2026
From Edinburgh to London – a Comic Lecture on Terry Pratchett
Critics have often dismissed the fantasy genre as not real literature. The Guardian’s art critic Jonathan Jones described Terry Pratchett’s books as ‘more entertainment than art’, and said that ‘Pratchett is so low on my list of books to read before I die that I would have to live a million years before getting round to him’. The Magic of Terry Pratchett, a ‘comic lecture’ by Marc Burrows, is a tribute to the life and work of Terry Pratchett that takes aim at the snobs and snoots. Based on Burrows’ own biography of Pratchett, it is a moving and entertaining performance that delights Pratchett-heads and encourages the uninitiated to seek out the nearest copy of one of his books. Since over 100 million have been sold worldwide, there should be no difficulty in finding one.
Full disclosure: I have never read Terry Pratchett. All I knew in advance of the show was that he was a popular and prolific fantasy author. I had not read The Colour of Magic, Pratchett’s famous book that inspires the show’s title, and which celebrates its 40th anniversary next month. Clearly, I am not the target audience, and a raise of hands during the performance demonstrated that I was in the minority. I did not get all the jokes, nor could I fully appreciate the connections between Pratchett’s life and his work that were referenced throughout. However, no prior knowledge was assumed, and there were enough laughs and interesting ideas to make the show worthwhile. I left the theatre resolved finally to get around to reading Pratchett. Hopefully, unlike Jonathan Jones, I will do so long before I have lived a million years.
The Magic of Terry Pratchett is a one-man show, transferred from a successful run at the Edinburgh Fringe to a one-night-only performance at the Bloomsbury Theatre, ahead of a tour in 2024. Burrows is aided by a PowerPoint presentation which he uses to good effect, both as a comedic sidekick and as a medium through which to display pictures, archival material, and clips of Pratchett’s charismatic interviews. Burrows is clearly obsessive in his love for Pratchett; the research for his book amounts to at least three PhDs, and his obsession is infectious. He tells the story of Pratchett’s life from start to finish, interspersed with passages from his books and Burrows’ own philosophical reflections. I found the comedic sections to be the show’s finest moments, while the more earnest segments relied more heavily on a prior attachment to the author.
The lecture revolves around the concept of stories. Pratchett began his career as a journalist, seeking out stories in the real world. After taking over a children’s stories column in the local paper, Pratchett began writing books. He became famous for his Discworld series, a collection of books set in Discworld, a flat, disc-shaped planet resting on the backs of four elephants standing on a giant turtle. Burrows brings out Pratchett’s sense of fun, his love of wordplay, and his unique ability to combine often infantile humour with startling profundity. Burrows borrows Pratchett’s techniques in his performance: he uses ‘footnotes’ throughout (an unusual literary device employed by Pratchett in his fiction); he frequently makes puns; and he combines periods of silliness with periods of sincerity. Burrows insists that his show is not merely about stories, but ‘stories about stories’. I am not sure what the distinction is between those two concepts, but Burrows uses them to muse on the malleability of truth and Pratchett’s preference for a good story rather than a plain depiction of reality.
Inevitably, while Burrows’ own contributions are thought-provoking, it is Pratchett’s own words that hit hardest. A passage from Pratchett’s The Hogfather starts the show off excellently: ‘humans need fantasy to be human, to be the place where the falling angel meets the rising ape.’ In the section on Pratchett’s Alzheimer’s diagnosis, a clip of a Pratchett speech on the subject is the most moving moment in the show. Burrows’ performance provides context to these words and allows us to appreciate them fully. That is the success of this performance: to show us the magic of Terry Pratchett and to leave us craving more.
In the same piece as his ‘more entertainment than art’ comment, Jonathan Jones said that ‘the best prose lives in the real world’. On its surface, Marc Burrows’ show questions this derogatory view of Pratchett’s prose. At its deeper level, it asks: What is the ‘real world’, anyway? If that is a question that fantasy seeks to address, then count me in. So what if it tries to be entertaining at the same time?
The Magic of Terry Pratchett was a one-night-only show at the Bloomsbury Theatre before Marc Burrows tours the show in 2024.
Bloomsbury Theatre
15 Gordon Street
London
WC1H 0AH
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