Michael Cook | |
---|---|
Born | Fulham, London, England | 14 February 1933
Died | 2 July 1994 St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada | (aged 61)
Occupation | Theatre reviewer and playwright |
Period | 1966 - 1991 |
Michael Cook (14 February 1933 – 2 July 1994) was an English-born Canadian playwright known for his plays set in Newfoundland. [1] [2]
Cook was born in Fulham, London, England to Anglo-Irish parents. He attended boarding schools until age fifteen and joined the British Army in 1949. [3] He served for twelve years, mostly in Asia, including Japan where he saw the Ama (Japanese female free-divers) harvesting shellfish, sea urchins, pearls, etc., from the ocean.[ citation needed] He married Muriel Horner in 1951 and had eight children. Between 1962 and 1966, he attended the University of Nottingham, earning teaching qualifications. [2] [4]
After graduating in 1966, Cook left his family and moved to Newfoundland to work as a schoolteacher. In 1967, he began his career at Memorial University of Newfoundland, first as a drama specialist with the MUN Extension Service and later becoming an associate professor in the English department. [5] Soon after arriving in Newfoundland, he wrote scripts for several radio dramas which were produced in St. John's. [6] He also reviewed plays and wrote articles about the importance of theatre in the St. John's Evening Telegram and the Canadian Theatrical Review. [7]
In 1970, Cook formed the amateur theatre company The Open Group with Clyde Rose and Richard Buehler and began to write plays for this group. [8] He wrote a number of plays set in Newfoundland, beginning with Tiln, written in 1971. [9] His best-known works are Jacob's Wake and The Head, Guts and Soundbone Dance, in which Newfoundland provides a sometimes realistic and sometimes symbolic backdrop for his poetic rendering of lives in continual conflict with natural elements. [10] Many of Cook's plays include dialogue written in Newfoundland English. [11]
In the mid-1970s, Cook began to spend time on Random Island and Fogo Island, marrying Madonna Decker in 1973. [12] In 1977, he was playwright-in-residence in the Banff Playwrights Lab at the Banff Centre for the Arts. [13] From 1982, they lived in Stratford, Ontario, where he was playwright-in-residence in 1987. He would often spend his summers on Random Island. [5]
In 1994, while making his way to his summer home on Random Island after visiting St. John's to see a staging of The Head, Guts and Soundbone Dance, Cook became ill and died back in St. John's. [14] [5]
His plays have been performed throughout North America, as well Poland, Sweden, Germany, Hungary, the United Kingdom and Ireland. [15]
Cook married three times, and fathered fourteen children, including actor Sebastian Spence by his second wife, Janis Spence, to whom he was married 1967–73. [16] [2]
Michael Cook | |
---|---|
Born | Fulham, London, England | 14 February 1933
Died | 2 July 1994 St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada | (aged 61)
Occupation | Theatre reviewer and playwright |
Period | 1966 - 1991 |
Michael Cook (14 February 1933 – 2 July 1994) was an English-born Canadian playwright known for his plays set in Newfoundland. [1] [2]
Cook was born in Fulham, London, England to Anglo-Irish parents. He attended boarding schools until age fifteen and joined the British Army in 1949. [3] He served for twelve years, mostly in Asia, including Japan where he saw the Ama (Japanese female free-divers) harvesting shellfish, sea urchins, pearls, etc., from the ocean.[ citation needed] He married Muriel Horner in 1951 and had eight children. Between 1962 and 1966, he attended the University of Nottingham, earning teaching qualifications. [2] [4]
After graduating in 1966, Cook left his family and moved to Newfoundland to work as a schoolteacher. In 1967, he began his career at Memorial University of Newfoundland, first as a drama specialist with the MUN Extension Service and later becoming an associate professor in the English department. [5] Soon after arriving in Newfoundland, he wrote scripts for several radio dramas which were produced in St. John's. [6] He also reviewed plays and wrote articles about the importance of theatre in the St. John's Evening Telegram and the Canadian Theatrical Review. [7]
In 1970, Cook formed the amateur theatre company The Open Group with Clyde Rose and Richard Buehler and began to write plays for this group. [8] He wrote a number of plays set in Newfoundland, beginning with Tiln, written in 1971. [9] His best-known works are Jacob's Wake and The Head, Guts and Soundbone Dance, in which Newfoundland provides a sometimes realistic and sometimes symbolic backdrop for his poetic rendering of lives in continual conflict with natural elements. [10] Many of Cook's plays include dialogue written in Newfoundland English. [11]
In the mid-1970s, Cook began to spend time on Random Island and Fogo Island, marrying Madonna Decker in 1973. [12] In 1977, he was playwright-in-residence in the Banff Playwrights Lab at the Banff Centre for the Arts. [13] From 1982, they lived in Stratford, Ontario, where he was playwright-in-residence in 1987. He would often spend his summers on Random Island. [5]
In 1994, while making his way to his summer home on Random Island after visiting St. John's to see a staging of The Head, Guts and Soundbone Dance, Cook became ill and died back in St. John's. [14] [5]
His plays have been performed throughout North America, as well Poland, Sweden, Germany, Hungary, the United Kingdom and Ireland. [15]
Cook married three times, and fathered fourteen children, including actor Sebastian Spence by his second wife, Janis Spence, to whom he was married 1967–73. [16] [2]