Michael Cooper spins tales in Masked Marvels

A grumpy, pipe-smoking trout fishes at an imaginary pond and uses candy as bait to catch a little boy. A high-kicking giant on stilts and a cowboy unable to break horses are just some of the colourful characters in Masked Marvels & Wondertales.

Michael Cooper is the creator of this one-man variety show: a natural storyteller, virtuoso mask-maker, a skilled mime and humourist who makes his Arden Theatre debut on Saturday, Oct. 22.

Combining elements of his own life with the mythological, Cooper uses surprisingly detailed masks and impressive physicality (he climbs mountains in his spare time) to tell original stories highlighting the miraculous in commonplace events.

Some of the vignettes include The Baby, inspired by the birth of his first son Ev nearly 23 years ago.

“I made a mask to celebrate his birth and it’s become a kingpin in our show,” Cooper says.

Another favourite is The Horse, a mask that pays homage to his father, a veterinarian that spent part of his early life breaking horses on a ranch in British Columbia. And then there’s The Fish-or-Man vignette that underneath the humour ponders deep ethical questions.

Without a doubt, the stars of Cooper’s show are his masks, some which can take up to 300 hours to make. Working primarily with a paper or cloth mâché, he first models the face in clay. The mâché is layered on top to form an extremely durable surface.

“When it hardens, I mine the clay out leaving a hollow mask and I paint it with oil paints. I stipple the paint on and it produces a powdery effect that glows under the lights.”

Born and raised in Maine where he still enjoys the rural life at Norcross Pond, Cooper is an independent spirit who taps 500 maple trees on his farm, chops wood and grows his own food.

Animal figures make up a large part of his show, a direct inspiration from his father.

“My dad was a large animal veterinarian. It’s a naturally dramatic life and if you went with him on his rounds, it was filled with drama, energy and danger.”

He developed an interest in theatre after attending college and seeing a performance from New York guest mime Tony Montanaro that he says “knocked my socks off.”

Fortuitously, Montanaro bought land in Maine and converted an old barn into a studio theatre that attracted students from every corner of the globe. In addition to studying with Montanaro, Cooper was also mentored by Etienne Decroux, one of the greatest mime teachers of the 20th century.

Now a 35-year veteran of the stage, Cooper has performed more than 9,000 shows around the world.

“But I’m more than a mime. The show is very visual, almost like a dance piece. I love to craft words, and I’d like to think verbiage is important.”