Michael Cook | |
|---|---|
| Born | 14 February 1933 Fulham, London, England |
| Died | 1 July 1994 (aged 61) St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada |
| Occupation | Theatre reviewer and playwright |
| Period | 1971 - 1991 |
Michael Cook (14 February 1933 – 1 July 1994) was a Canadian playwright known for his plays set in Newfoundland.
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Early life
Cook was born in Fulham, London, England. He attended boarding schools until age fifteen.[1] He served five years in the British Army, mostly in Asia including Japan where he saw the Ama (Japanese female free-divers) harvesting shellfish, sea urchins, pearls, etc., from the ocean, and later attended the University of Nottingham, earning teaching qualifications.[2] He then settled in Newfoundland in 1965.[3]
Career
Soon after arriving in Newfoundland, Cook wrote scripts for several radio dramas which were produced in St. John's;[4] Cook taught theatre arts at Memorial University of Newfoundland;[5] he reviewed plays and wrote articles about the importance of theatre in the St. John's Evening Telegram and in the Canadian Theatrical Review.[6] In the Fall and Spring semesters of 1974/75, he taught a first year English course at Memorial University of Newfoundland.
Cook wrote a number of plays set in Newfoundland, beginning with was Tiln, written in 1971.[5] His best-known works were 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.[7]
Many of Cook's plays include dialogue written in the Newfoundland dialect;[8] in spite of this, The Head, Guts and Soundbone Dance was restaged as far away as Regina, Saskatchewan in 1980.[9]
Personal life
Cook married three times, and fathered twelve children, including actor Sebastian Spence by his wife, Janis.[10] Cook retained a residence in Stratford, Ontario. While passing through St Johns on a trip to his summer home on Random Island, Cook became ill and died.[11]
Plays
- Tiln, 1971.
- Colour The Flesh the Colour of Dust, 1972.
- The Head, Guts and Sound Bone Dance, 1973.
- Jacob's Wake, 1974.
- Quiller, 1975.
- Therese's Creed, 1976.
- The Fisherman's Revenge, 1976. (children's play)
- On The Rim of the Curve, 1977.
- The Gayden Chronicles, 1980.
Works about Michael Cook
- Craig Walker, "Michael Cook: Elegy, Allegory and Eschatology," The Buried Astrolabe: Canadian Dramatic Imagination and Western Tradition. Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2001.
References
- ^ 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
- ^ John Robert Colombo. Canadian Literary Landmarks. Dundurn; 1 January 1984. ISBN 978-1-4597-1798-5. p. 22–.
- ^ 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–.
- ^ a b 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–.
- ^ "Michael Cook - Biocritical Essay", by Malcolm Page, University of Calgary. 1994
- ^ 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–.
- ^ Contemporary Canadian theatre, new world visions: a collection of essays. Simon & Pierre; 1985. ISBN 978-0-88924-152-7. p. 77.
- ^ "Director, actor Janis Spence dead at 61". CBC News, Feb 07, 2008
- ^ "Michael Cook". Heritage Newfoundland, www.heritage.nf.ca
External links
| International | |
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| National | |
| Other | |
This page was last edited on 8 April 2024, at 13:49