On Monday 28th April 2025 (a day that should have been Terry Pratchett's 77th birthday) we headed into London to see Marc Burrows' The Magic of Terry Pratchett with special guests.
The auditorium was almost at capacity and upon arriving we bumped into many friends before we even found our seats located right in the middle of the front row of the stalls.
We've seen Marc's show a few times before so there were very few surprises. There is something quite reassuring seeing the show slowly morph and develop over time. The changes are subtle but noticeable as Marc develops his performance.
A couple of the more risqué comments had been removed from this performance of the show as was most of the swearing but it was still as funny, emotional and entertaining as it ever has been.
The first part (the bit with the PowerPoint presentation) took around an hour and finished with a strange AI version of Terry reading from his essay about living your life well. I'm glad to say AI still has a very long way to go to be convincing.
After a short intermission, where we were encouraged to purchase one of Marc's books, we were entertained by a Q&A session hosted by Dan Schreiber. Dan was there to interview Marc but also the guests of honour which were Terry's daughter Rhianna Pratchett and Terry's business manager and current head of the Pratchett estate Rob Wilkins.
Dan did his best to keep the session lively and entertaining. Rob decided to bring out a bottle of champagne to celebrate Terry's (and Dan's) birthday and managed to successfully cover half the front row when the cork went flying off at a funny angle and glanced off Dan. During the session Rob poured glasses for himself, Dan and Marc and gave an empty glass to Rhianna (who wasn't able to drink as she was clearly pregnant). We at this point all sang happy birthday to Terry but also to Dan.
It was clear that Dan, Marc and Rob all knew each other quite well. Dan was working on the Museum of Curiosity when Terry was a guest. Marc was given the opportunity to come to the event but wasn't feeling well and thus missed his one and only chance to meet Terry in person. It's a shame he missed it because it was a fun evening (I was at the recording) and Terry was very much in top form that night.
Rhianna talked about her childhood birthdays with Terry and about her collaboration with Gabrielle Kent on Tiffany Aching's Guide to Being a Witch, and Rob talked about the logistics of taking Terry to Borneo in the facing extinction documentary. And the one event that changed their relationship forever.
Rob also talked about the problems with writing Raising Steam and The Shepherd's Crown and gave a lot of credit to Phillipa Dickinson who guided Rob into getting the most out of Terry and keep the writing in the right direction to ensure a readable book came out of the end of the process.
It was very entertaining and before long we were at the end of the show. Marc gave quite an emotional send off and hinted at some future projects he will be involved in.
This was originally meant to be the last live The Magic of Terry Pratchett show but it seems venues keep booking him and so it may be coming to a venue near you in the autumn. If you have seen it, it's worth an evening out.
The driving force for the show is keeping Terry's name alive and we feel that Marc has done a fabulous job in doing that.