Several of Terry Pratchett's novels, both Discworld and non-Discworld, have been adapted into plays and performed. Stephen Briggs was the first person to adapt one of Terry Pratchett's books for stage and performed them along with his Studio Theatre Club. Stephen Briggs has adapted the majority of the plays that have been produced except for 'Lords and Ladies' by Irana Brown, 'Nation' by Mark Ravenhill and the Musical Packs by Matthew Holmes.

Rights to Perform

The plays have been performed by both professional as well as fan groups, however since the material is copyrighted permission and a stage application are needed to be purchased beforehand. Amateur rights can be obtained from either Colin Smythe or the publishers, depending on the play; see Colin’s website for details. Professional rights must be obtained from the Pratchett Estate, via Rob Wilkins. Traditionally, all proceeds received by Stephen Briggs for his adaptations are donated to the Orangutan Foundation website.

Discworld

Wyrd Sisters

Corgi, 1996

Mort

Corgi, 1996

Guards! Guards!

Corgi, 1997

Men at Arms

Corgi, 1997

Maskerade

Samuel French, 1998

Carpe Jugulum

Samuel French, 1999

Lords and Ladies

Samuel French, 2001. Adapted by Irana Brown.

Adapted by Stephen Briggs, Methuen 11th March 2021.

The Fifth Elephant

Methuen, 2002

The Truth

Methuen, 2002

Night Watch

Methuen, 2004

Monstrous Regiment

Methuen, 2004

Jingo

Methuen, 2005

Interesting Times

Methuen, 2005

Going Postal

Methuen, 2005

The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents

Oxford University Press, 2006

'A word from the author about the novel' by Terry Pratchett.

This play has an activities section for schools written by Jenny Roberts.

Making Money

Samuel French, 2011

Feet of Clay

Oberon Modern Plays, 2015

Unseen Academicals

Oberon Modern Plays, 2015

The Rince Cycle

Oberon Modern Plays, 2015

All The Discworld's A Stage

Omnibus, Feet of Clay/The Rince Cycle/Unseen Academicals. Oberon Modern Plays, 2015

The Shakespeare Codex

Mashup of The Science of Discworld II: the Globe and Shakespeare. First performed in 2016. Published by Methuen 11th March 2021.

Hogfather

First performed in 2018. Published by Methuen 11th March 2021.

Murder in Ankh-Morpork

Currently unpublished mash-up of Men at Arms, Guards! Guards! and Feet of Clay. To be performed in 2021.

Non-Discworld

Johnny and the Dead

Oxford University Press, 1996

'A word from the author about the novel' by Terry Pratchett.

This play has an activities section for schools written by Steve Barlow and Steve Skidmore in the first edition and Jenny Roberts in the second edition.

Truckers

Unpublished, 2002.

Adapted and directed by Bob Eaton, this production was a co-production between the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry, the Harrogate Theatre and the Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmonds. The first and only season ran between April and June 2002, spending time at all three theatres. It used filmed inserts to represent the humans and elements of their world, to give them the proper scale, while the Nomes were performed by actors.

The cast included Matthew Bowyer as Masklin, Rosalind Paul as Grimma, Terry Burns as Angalo, Richard J Fletcher as Dorcas, Robin Johnson as Gurder, David Brett as Torrit, Kate Layden as Granny Morkie and Stephen Aintree as the Abbot and Duke of Haberdasheri. The voice of The Thing was performed by the composer, Sayan Kent; you can hear some of her score for the play on Soundcloud.

While the script was never published, a short piece written by Terry Pratchett for the theatre programme under the title “A Word From Terry Pratchett” was republished as “The Big Store” in both Once More* *with Footnotes and A Slip of the Keyboard.

Only You Can Save Mankind

Unpublished, 2004. A musical adaptation for the stage premiered at the Edinburgh Festival, with music by Leighton James House and lyrics by Shaun McKenna. The album was released online November 23, 2009. A national CD release came out in April 2010.

Nation

Oxford University Press (paperback), 2009 and Heinemann (hardback), 2009

The Heinemann edition of the play included a revised performance edition of the script along with an activities section for schools by Richard Duran.

Good Omens

Unpublished, 2017-2019.

Australian-American pair Vicki Larnach and Jim Hare secured local rights to develop a musical adaptation of Good Omens in 2013. The music and lyrics were written by Larnach, with a book by Hare & Jay James-Moody. While it remains unproduced, it was staged i SYdney by production company Squabbalogic as a “workshop” production - without full sets and costumes - in a few one-off performances between 2017 and 2019. Unfortunately the musical has been unable to secure full funding; the producers have explained in appearances at fan events that this is because the international rights were unavailable (in part because of the then-upcoming Amazon Prime series, announced part-way through the musical’s development), and large Australian productions generally rely on touring or licensing income from outside of Australia . It has not progressed further since. The production’s website is still live and includes a “sizzle reel” of highlights from those performances, and video of the production was shown to Neil Gaiman and Rob Wilkins in 2019. Its future is undetermined, but it seems unlikely to proceed any time soon.