The film of the book, the dance of the book

Monday 5 March: 7.45pm
The Northern Rock Foundation Hall
The Sage Gateshead
Tickets: £10/£8.00
Info: 0191 443 5661, www.thesagegateshead.org
In the year of the 'Arab Spring', six artists from the North East travelled to the Middle East – their object, to create with young Palestinian refugees a play about the downfall of a long-ruling tyrant. The play, Croak The King and a Change in the Weather, put together on Shatila Palestinian Refugee Camp in Beirut played to great acclaim at Theatre Monnot in the mainly Christian East Beirut, before touring to three cities in the UK. The book Camp Shatila by Peter Mortimer (Five Leaves) is the beginning of the story.
‘Shatila Theatre’, is a remarkable documentary film, made by Primate Productions of Whitley Bay, which follows the rehearsals on camp, the Beirut production, then 3,000 miles to track the play through the UK (including performances at The Sage).
Also on view is the live stage show commissioned by Theatre Monnot to precede the film, and as yet unseen in the UK.
‘I Married the Angel of the North’ is a fusion of contemporary North East music, poetry and dance performed by The Creels, and the play’s author and poet Peter Mortimer. The book I Married the Angel of the North is published by Five Leaves.