For Children
Published by Iron Press (revised edition, 2001)
ISBN-10: 0-906228-83-2
Price: £5.95
Order Utter Nonsense from Inpress.
Illustrated by Hutch (Paul Hutchinson)
Published by Unit Offset (1981)
Cover price: £1
"Ooosquidal (ûsqid'l) n. 1981 (rare). Seldom seen beastie of indeterminate size and shape. In existence since time immemmorial though identified and named only in 1981. Distinctive loud "Woooooo!" sound in flight. Never photographed, drawn or kept in captivity.
Illustrated by Carole Senior
Published by Pivot Press (1992)
ISBN-10: 0-906939-03-8
Cover price: £3.30
Croak is the story of a greedy and self-centered King, whose indulgent lifestyle in the luxury of his sealed-off palace is at the expense of his downtrodden subjects outside. When his kingdom is faced with previously unknown types of weather which threaten the supply of luxuries, the King is forced for the first time ever to go outside the palace gates.
With colour illustrations by Gaynor Devaney
An Iron Press / Flambard Press co-publication (1997)
ISBN-10: 0-906228-63-8 (Iron)
ISBN-10: 1-873226-25-X (Flambard)
Cover price: £5.95
In 2008, Peter Mortimer lived for two months in the Shatila refugee camp, in outer Beirut. During his time on camp he created a children's drama group at the Shatila school, and adapted Croak The King & a Change in the Weather into a 30-minute theatre piece, incorporating dance, music, and mime.
Despite having only the basic grasp of the language, the children performed the play in English. It was performed twice to camp residents on the writer's final day - and in September 2009 the same production was brought to the North-East.
More than £22,000 was raised in the region to help bring about this unique international theatre event. Public funding came from North Tyneside Council, (£6,000) Arts Council England North-East, (£4,600); the Co-operative Membership has given £1,900, with £500 from the Arab-British Centre. More than £7,000 was raised in a fund-raising walk, The Shatila Ramble, Newcastle College Fine Art Dept raised £1,500 in a charity auction, and £500 came from a Words & Music night at The Cumberland Arms, Byker, organised by writer Jeff Price.
With the help of Cloud Nine Theatre Company members, Croak, The King & a Change in the Weather was performed eight times in four venues, often to sellout audiences, and there are now plans to build on the success to forge long-term cultural links with Shatila Camp.
Read the Journal's account of the story.
Read Peter's book Camp Shatila: A Writer's Chronicle for an account of the difficulties presented by the production - and what the children thought about the play!