Michael Cook (14 February 1933 – 1 July 1994) was a Canadian playwright known for his plays set in
Newfoundland
Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...
.
Early life
Cook was born in
Fulham
Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...
, London, England. He attended boarding schools until age fifteen.
[Lisa De Leon. ]
Writers of Newfoundland and Labrador: Twentieth Century
'. Jesperson Press; 1 January 1985. . p. 267. He served five years in the
British Army
The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...
, 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
The University of Nottingham is a public university, public research university in Nottingham, United Kingdom. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter in 1948. The University of Nottingham belongs t ...
, earning teaching qualifications. He then settled in Newfoundland in 1965.
[John Robert Colombo. ]
Canadian Literary Landmarks
'. Dundurn; 1 January 1984. . p. 22–.
Career
Soon after arriving in Newfoundland, Cook wrote scripts for several radio dramas which were produced in St. John's;
Literary History of Canada: Canadian Literature in English, Volume IV (Second Edition)
'. University of Toronto Press, Scholarly Publishing Division; 15 December 1990. . p. 199–. Cook taught theatre arts at
Memorial University of Newfoundland
Memorial University of Newfoundland, also known as Memorial University or MUN (), is a public university in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, based in St. John's, with satellite campuses in Corner Brook, elsewhere in Newfoundland and ...
;
[María Jesús Hernáez Lerena. ]
Pathways of Creativity in Contemporary Newfoundland and Labrador
'. Cambridge Scholars Publishing; 18 September 2015. . p. 193–. he reviewed plays and wrote articles about the importance of theatre in the ''St. John's Evening Telegram'' and in the ''Canadian Theatrical Review''. 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.
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.
[Craig Stewart Walker. ]
The Buried Astrolabe: Canadian Dramatic Imagination and Western Tradition
'. McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP; 2001. . p. 83–.
Many of Cook's plays include dialogue written in the Newfoundland dialect;
Post-Colonial Drama: Theory, Practice, Politics
'. Routledge; 11 September 2002. . p. 179–. in spite of this, ''The Head, Guts and Soundbone Dance'' was restaged as far away as Regina, Saskatchewan in 1980.
Contemporary Canadian theatre, new world visions: a collection of essays
'. Simon & Pierre; 1985. . p. 77.
Personal life
Cook married three times, and fathered twelve children, including actor
Sebastian Spence
Sebastian Spence (born December 9, 1969) is a Canadian actor. He played the lead role of Cade Foster in the Space Channel science fiction television series, '' First Wave'' (1998–2001).Science Fiction Television Series, 1990–2004: Histories, ...
by his wife, Janis.
Cook retained a residence in
Stratford, Ontario
Stratford is a city on the Avon River within Perth County in southwestern Ontario, Canada, with a 2016 population of 31,465 in a land area of . Stratford is the seat of Perth County, which was settled by English, Irish, Scottish and German im ...
. While passing through
St Johns on a trip to his summer home on
Random Island
Random Island is an island located off Canada's Atlantic coast. Part of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador, it is located on the east coast of Newfoundland (island), Newfoundland and partially surrounded by the Bonavista Peninsula on ...
, Cook became ill and died.
"Michael Cook"
''Heritage Newfoundland'', www.heritage.nf.ca
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
External links
Biography at Newfoundland and Labrador Heritage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cook, Michael
1933 births
1994 deaths
English dramatists and playwrights
20th-century Canadian dramatists and playwrights
English emigrants to Canada
Writers from St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador
People from Fulham
Canadian male dramatists and playwrights
English male dramatists and playwrights
20th-century Canadian male writers
20th-century English male writers