Biography

Michael Edgar was born in Gateshead in North-East England. At Leeds University he gained a B.A (Hons in English (1961) and a Graduate Diploma of Education (1962) before training for the theatre at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London (1965).

Between 1965 and 1967 he worked in various English repertory companies and then for three years in a long-running West End play, Spring and Port Wine. From 1969 to 1972 he worked with the National Theatre of Great Britain.

In 1972 he came to Australia and in 1973 married his wife, Sheryl, whom he had met in London between 1973 and 1983 worked mainly with the Melbourne Theatre Company. In his final year, he worked in their Schoolsday program as an actor, writer, and director.

In 1983 he also began working as a lecturer in the Performing Arts Department of Deakin University in Geelong and appeared as an actor with the Mill Theatre Company there.

In 1985 he moved to Tasmania to help develop the new theatre course in the Centre for Drama Studies at the Tasmanian College of Advanced Education. This later became the Tasmanian State Institute of Technology before being amalgamated with the University of Tasmania.

Michael was a founding committee member of Theatre North and was Vice-Chair from 2011-2015. He has served on various Arts Tasmania committees and on the inaugural committee of the Theatre Council of Tasmania. He was a committee member of the Australia and New Zealand Shakespeare Association and was its President from 2000 to 2002.

Since retiring from the University as Deputy Head of the School of Visual and Performing Arts in 2008, Michael has continued to work as an actor and director in local theatre.