Extraordinary LIVES
MY TALENTED son, John, the eldest of my four children, was a teacher by profession, but also a literary researcher, playwright and theatre producer. He was always a keen student, so it was no surprise that he sailed through university, gained his master’s degree and went on to study Russian literature and Spanish. In 1986, after a long teaching career, he co-founded Traffic Of The Stage, a fringe theatre company that supported young actors and aspiring writers. More than 60 shows were produced at hundreds of venues all over the country. John, who lived in East Finchley, North London, loved Shakespeare and pioneered interactive ‘theatre in education’ shows in secondary schools. He also toured colleges and regional theatres with his popular Shakespeare Live! and History Of Theatre Live! shows. As well as producing and directing, John was a
adapting the classics, such as Thomas Hardy’s Far From The Madding Crowd and Charles Dickens’s The Old Curiosity Shop, and creating his own work. Audiences nationwide were entertained by his original plays, including The Pleasure Principle, Notes From London’s Underground, Mating Behaviour and Party Pieces. Traffic Of The Stage was a charity that was never intended to be for monetary gain. John took on a lot of the behind-thescenes work: interviewing and casting actors, producing advertising material, programmes and online updates, seeking sponsors, booking venues and accommodation — even maintaining vehicles, as the shows travelled around the country. Sadly, his final play, Rendlesham, based on UFO sightings in 1980, was not produced because John’s health declined as he fought a long battle with prostate cancer. I hope that, some day, it will be put on stage in his memory. His theatre work made him many friends and John is deeply missed by me, his son Durrell, brothers Richard and Paul, and sister Jane.
JOHN COOPER, born March31,