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Michael Cook
Michael Cook
Born	14 February 1933; Fulham, London, England
Died	2 July 1994 (aged 61); St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada
Occupation	Theatre reviewer and playwright
Period	1966 - 1987

Michael Cook (14 February 1933 – 2 July 1994) was an English-born Canadian playwright known for his plays set in Newfoundland.^[1]^[2]

Early life

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]

Career

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]

Personal life

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]

Works

Stage plays

The J. Alfred Prufrock Hour (performed 1968)
Tiln (first broadcast 1971; performed 1972)
Colour the Flesh the Colour of Dust (performed 1971; published by Simon and Pierre, 1974)
The Head, Guts and Soundbone Dance (performed at Arts and Culture Centre, St. John's, 1973; published 1974)
Jacob's Wake (performed at Arts and Culture Centre, St. John's, 1974; published by Talonbooks, 1975)
Quiller (performed 1975)
The Fisherman's Revenge (performed 1976; published by Playwrights Canada, 1985)^[17]
Therese's Creed (performed at Centaur Theatre, Montreal, 1977). Title also variously spelled as "Terese" and "Theresa".
Not as a Dream (performed at Dalhousie University, Halifax, 1976)
On the Rim of the Curve (performed at Newfoundland Drama Festival, 1977)
The Gayden Chronicles (performed 1978; published by Playwrights Canada, 1979)
The Apocalypse Sonata (performed at Globe Theatre, Regina, 1980)
The End of the Road (written 1981). Earlier drafts were titled All the Funny People Are Dead and The Deserts of Bohemia.
The Great Harvest Excursion (written 1986; published 1994)^[18]

Compilations

Quiller / Tiln: Two One-Act Plays (Playwrights Co-op, 1975)
Tiln & Other Plays (Talonbooks, 1976). Includes Tiln, Quiller and Therese's Creed.^[19]
Three Plays (Breakwater Books, 1977). Includes The Head, Guts and Soundbone Dance; On the Rim of the Curve; and Therese's Creed.

Radio plays

No Man Can Serve Two Masters, first broadcast April 8, 1966
How to Catch a Pirate, first broadcast June 8, 1966
A Walk in the Rain, first broadcast January 18, 1967
Or the Wheel Broken, first broadcast June 18, 1967
A Time for Doors, first broadcast March 13, 1968
The Truck, first broadcast August 18, 1968
The Concubine, first broadcast February 16, 1969
To Inhabit the Earth Is Not Enough, first broadcast September 21, 1969
The Ballad of Patrick Docker, first broadcast November 25, 1970
Journey into the Unknown, 1970
There's a Seal in the Bottom of the Garden, first broadcast June 19, 1971
Love Is a Walnut, first broadcast August 20, 1972
Apostles for the Burning, first broadcast December 4, 1973
Travels with Aunt Jane, 12 episodes broadcast weekly starting July 10, 1974 starring Jane Mallett
Knight of Sorrow, Lady of Darkness, first broadcast August 10, 1976
The Producer, the Director, 1976
Ireland's Eye, first broadcast April 19, 1977
The Gentleman Amateur, 1977
The Hunter, 1981
All a Pack o' Lies, 1981
The Terrible Journey of Frederick Dunglass, first broadcast January 22, 1982
The Preacher, first broadcast December 12, 1982
The Sweet Second Summer of Kitty Malone, first broadcast June 3, 1984
This Damned Inheritance, first broadcast November 11, 1984
The Bailiff and the Women, first broadcast November 16, 1984
The Ocean Ranger, first broadcast March 31, 1985
The Saddest Barn Dance Ever Held, first broadcast April 28, 1985
The Hanging Judge, first broadcast October 27, 1985
The Moribundian Memorandum, 1986

Other

In Search of Confederation, 1971, television play
"The Island of Fire: Chapter One of a Novel in Progress". Aurora: New Canadian Writinq 1980. Ed. Morris Wolfe. Toronto: Doubleday, 1980, pp. 33–48.

References

^ "Michael Cook". www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca. Retrieved 15 April 2024.
^ ^a ^b ^c Kirkpatrick, D. L. (Daniel Lane) (1988). Contemporary dramatists. Chicago ; London: St. James. pp. 96–98. ISBN 978-0-912289-62-5.
^ Lisa De Leon. Writers of Newfoundland and Labrador: Twentieth Century. Jesperson Press; 1 January 1985. ISBN 978-0-920502-58-7. p. 267.
^ Michael Cook entry at The Canadian Encyclopedia
^ ^a ^b ^c "Michael Cook". Heritage Newfoundland, www.heritage.nf.ca
^ Literary History of Canada: Canadian Literature in English, Volume IV (Second Edition). University of Toronto Press, Scholarly Publishing Division; 15 December 1990. ISBN 978-1-4875-9116-8. p. 199–.
^ Page, Malcolm (1994). Biocritical Essay (Michael Cook). University of Calgary Press. ISBN 978-1-895176-52-0.
^ Devine, Michael (1 January 2004). "Cultural Evolution in Newfoundland Theatre: The Rise of the Gros Morne Theatre Festival". Theatre Research in Canada / Recherches théâtrales au Canada. ISSN 1913-9101.
^ María Jesús Hernáez Lerena. Pathways of Creativity in Contemporary Newfoundland and Labrador. Cambridge Scholars Publishing; 18 September 2015. ISBN 978-1-4438-8333-7. p. 193–.
^ Craig Stewart Walker. The Buried Astrolabe: Canadian Dramatic Imagination and Western Tradition. McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP; 2001. ISBN 978-0-7735-2075-2. p. 83–.
^ Post-Colonial Drama: Theory, Practice, Politics. Routledge; 11 September 2002. ISBN 978-1-134-87700-3. p. 179–.
^ John Robert Colombo. Canadian Literary Landmarks. Dundurn; 1 January 1984. ISBN 978-1-4597-1798-5. p. 22–.
^ "A Brief History of the Banff Playwrights Lab". www.banffcentre.ca. Retrieved 16 April 2024.
^ Lynde, Denise (1 June 1994). "In Memoriam Michael Cook". Theatre Research in Canada / Recherches théâtrales au Canada. ISSN 1913-9101.
^ The CTR anthology : fifteen plays from Canadian Theatre Review. Toronto ; Buffalo: University of Toronto Press. 1993. ISBN 978-0-8020-6812-5.
^ "Director, actor Janis Spence dead at 61". CBC News, Feb 07, 2008
^ Cook, Michael (1985). The fisherman's revenge. Toronto: Playwrights Canada. ISBN 978-0-88754-385-2.
^ Inter-plays : works and words of writers and critics : a festschrift published in honour of Albert-Reiner Glaap. St. John's, NF, Canada: Breakwater. 1994. ISBN 978-1-55081-078-3.
^ Cook, Michael (1976). Tiln & other plays. Vancouver: Talonbooks. ISBN 978-0-88922-107-9.

[1] "Michael Cook". www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca. Retrieved 15 April 2024.

[:1-2] Kirkpatrick, D. L. (Daniel Lane) (1988). Contemporary dramatists. Chicago ; London: St. James. pp. 96–98. ISBN 978-0-912289-62-5.

[Leon1985-3] Lisa De Leon. Writers of Newfoundland and Labrador: Twentieth Century. Jesperson Press; 1 January 1985. ISBN 978-0-920502-58-7. p. 267.

[4] Michael Cook entry at The Canadian Encyclopedia

[:0-5] "Michael Cook". Heritage Newfoundland, www.heritage.nf.ca

[NewBerger1990-6] Literary History of Canada: Canadian Literature in English, Volume IV (Second Edition). University of Toronto Press, Scholarly Publishing Division; 15 December 1990. ISBN 978-1-4875-9116-8. p. 199–.

[7] Page, Malcolm (1994). Biocritical Essay (Michael Cook). University of Calgary Press. ISBN 978-1-895176-52-0.

[8] Devine, Michael (1 January 2004). "Cultural Evolution in Newfoundland Theatre: The Rise of the Gros Morne Theatre Festival". Theatre Research in Canada / Recherches théâtrales au Canada. ISSN 1913-9101.

[Lerena2015-9] María Jesús Hernáez Lerena. Pathways of Creativity in Contemporary Newfoundland and Labrador. Cambridge Scholars Publishing; 18 September 2015. ISBN 978-1-4438-8333-7. p. 193–.

[Walker2001-10] Craig Stewart Walker. The Buried Astrolabe: Canadian Dramatic Imagination and Western Tradition. McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP; 2001. ISBN 978-0-7735-2075-2. p. 83–.

[GilbertTompkins2002-11] Post-Colonial Drama: Theory, Practice, Politics. Routledge; 11 September 2002. ISBN 978-1-134-87700-3. p. 179–.

[Colombo1984-12] John Robert Colombo. Canadian Literary Landmarks. Dundurn; 1 January 1984. ISBN 978-1-4597-1798-5. p. 22–.

[13] "A Brief History of the Banff Playwrights Lab". www.banffcentre.ca. Retrieved 16 April 2024.

[14] Lynde, Denise (1 June 1994). "In Memoriam Michael Cook". Theatre Research in Canada / Recherches théâtrales au Canada. ISSN 1913-9101.

[15] The CTR anthology : fifteen plays from Canadian Theatre Review. Toronto ; Buffalo: University of Toronto Press. 1993. ISBN 978-0-8020-6812-5.

[16] "Director, actor Janis Spence dead at 61". CBC News, Feb 07, 2008

[17] Cook, Michael (1985). The fisherman's revenge. Toronto: Playwrights Canada. ISBN 978-0-88754-385-2.

[18] Inter-plays : works and words of writers and critics : a festschrift published in honour of Albert-Reiner Glaap. St. John's, NF, Canada: Breakwater. 1994. ISBN 978-1-55081-078-3.

[19] Cook, Michael (1976). Tiln & other plays. Vancouver: Talonbooks. ISBN 978-0-88922-107-9.

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PROFILPELAJAR.COM

Michael Cook (playwright)

Early life

Career

Personal life

Works

Stage plays

Compilations

Radio plays

Other

Further reading

References

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