Pea Green Boat

From award-winning comedian and bestselling author Stewart Lee, his first original book in fifteen years: a brilliantly dark comedic retelling of Edward Lear's The Owl and the Pussycat - and the tragic 'true' story behind it.

“Fearless ... It's austere stuff, Stewart Lee.” – Alan Bennett

“Stewart Lee is not funny and has nothing to say.” – The Daily Telegraph

“Stewart Lee's take on Edward Lear's The Owl and the Pussycat employs the qualities I admire in his comedy stand-up work. It is funny, violent, surreal, compassionate, existential, vulgar, elegant, very funny, and very sad. I love it.” – Dame Sheila Hancock

I am having problems relating to my crew member, having never been a great fan of cats, nor they of birds. Why have we been press ganged into service together? What can they hope to achieve by sending this absurd duo out to sea? I am an owl. The Cat is a cat...

In Pea Green Boat, Stewart Lee and David Waywell create a dark, grotesque retelling of The Owl and the Pussycat in which Edward Lear's characters are revealed to be catastrophically poorly-equipped for maritime travel. Told through the increasingly deranged diary of the Owl, the real story is unmasked - he cannot open the honey jar due to his lack of opposable thumbs, he is terrified the cat will eat him in his sleep, and he struggles to play the guitar despite having no fingers. As hunger, exhaustion, and poor navigation take their toll, it becomes clear that these two creatures should never have been put in a boat together.

Inspired by the cult 2001 stage piece, Pea Green Boat blends Lee's fascination with Edward Lear with his own comedy. Now, with David's gothic-comic illustrations, the story is brought vividly, hilariously, and unsettlingly to life.