Mike was a professional actor for 25 years, working all over the country in touring and 'rep' theatre; he has worked with Derek Jacobi and was in 'The Mousetrap' for a year in the West End. Favourite parts included Kostia in 'The Seagull' and Scarecrow in 'The Wizard of Oz'. He now satisfies his performing ego by giving occasional readings at John Calder's bookshop in The Cut.
He has written poetry since he was thirteen and plays since his twenties; three have been very successful - The Knight From Nowhere, about Henry Irving, which was commisioned by the Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh; A Vision, about W.B.Yeats and Maud Gonne, in which he has several times played Yeats; and Ultimate Islands about Robert Louis and Fanny Stevenson, in which he played R.L.S. He is currently writing a play about Antonin Artaud, and trying finally to get some of his poetry published.
He and a friend are in the midst of launching a new artists' and writers' quarterly/website - the21.org.uk - which should launch in print - eventually!. The web-site is currently under construction, but there is enough work uploaded to give an impression of what the21's about....