"I always wanted to get into special effects in the movies and build monsters and spaceships and things when I was a kid.
"But it just didn't happen," he says.
"It's funny that 20 years later I'm doing it for theatre, not movies."
Cook's epiphany came in 2000, when he won a role in The Somniloquist by Natural History New Zealand producer Stephen Downes.
"[Late Otago Daily Times theatre critic] Donald Hope Evans was in the film and he said to me: 'No-one ever wants to do all the donkey work in theatre, like building and painting the sets'.
"So I thought I'd give it a go.
"I'd never even set foot in a theatre till then, but I rang [Globe Theatre stalwart] Rosemary Beresford to offer to help out and I've been involved ever since."
Cook not only designs and builds sets for Globe productions, he usually does it with materials donated from his Hanover St art supplies shop, Art Zone.
Tonight he adds playwright to his CV when his first play, A Cup of Tea and a Biscuit, premieres.
"I'd never written a story or a play before.
"The last thing I wrote was at high school.
"But, I thought I had some good ideas and wanted to give writing a play a go."
He started work on A Cup of Tea and a Biscuit in November, 2005.
"Our dramaturg, Emily Duncan, said she'd look at it and if it was any good she'd workshop it and if it was rubbish she'd tell me.
"The Globe is the only theatre in town that would give an unknown like me an opportunity like this and pay me for it.
"The Globe's always been a launching pad for writers."
The "theatre-in-a-house" was created in 1961 by Patric and Rosalie Carey in their London St home.
The Globe quickly caught the imagination of Dunedin artists, writers and theatregoers.
Poet and philantropist Charles Brasch bought not one, but two Globe life memberships.
The Careys were passionate about promoting classical and contemporary theatre in Dunedin and championed the works of New Zealand writers including James K. Baxter, R. A. K. Mason, Janet Frame, Robert Lord, Roger Hall, John Caselberg, Harry Love, Nigel Ensor, Simon O'Connor and Emily Duncan.
"I really love the process of rehearsals and seeing it all come together," Cook says.
"It's absolutely fascinating."
A Cup of Tea and a Biscuit is set in the mythical town of Dullsford in England.
"It's a small community and they're all dreadfully tedious people and the highlight of their week is a visit by an international speaker, who has the meaning of life at her fingertips.
But, they just all want to get to the tea trolley and tell her how much they know and say 'look at me'.
"The joke is how she spends the whole evening trying to subtly escape, while trying to be professional and listening to everyone's nonsense around her.
"They're the characters we meet every day.
"They're mostly based on characters I know.
"I've been in 'cups of tea and biscuit' situations thousands of times.
"Everyone's been in this situation; whether it's a lecture or a funeral.
"Even during rehearsals, we've been standing around at times with a cup of tea and a biscuit."
"There's the sick guy and someone who boasts about how clever they are, and there's always a guy who wants to walk around with a clipboard and administer things and feel important.
"There's the character who cuts everyone down and the guy who is an expert on everything."
"Every time I went out socially I tried to come back with one new idea.
"Some of these appallingly annoying character traits are based on me and things I do.
"Like, I'm the arts sort of guy who loves talking about himself.
"I'll also do something once and then try to make out I'm an expert on it forever after.
"I bought a wine-making kit last year and it was going to be my 2009 project.
"I went around telling everyone I was a wine-maker.
"I haven't even opened the box yet, but it's been fun telling people I'm a wine-maker."
Cook based one character on an actor he met during a Mainland Cheese commercial directed by Robert Sarkies.
"Afterwards, this guy came up to Robert and was going on and on about all the parts he'd done and how he once talked to Sam Neill.
"It made me cringe.
"It's awful to be pinned down where you can't escape."
"It's a comedy, but it does a big flip-flop and it actually turns out pretty tragic in the end.
I want people to be in tears when they walk out of the theatre."
The Globe marks its 50th anniversary in 2011 and a celebratory weekend is being planned for the end of February or beginning of March.
See it
- A Cup of Tea and a Biscuit premieres at the Globe Theatre at 7.30 tonight and runs until December 12. A 2pm matinee will be performed on Sunday.
- The cast is: Brian Kilkelly, Phil Cole, Doug Leggett, Mary Greet, Denise Casey and Don Knewstubb, and the play is directed by Brian Beresford.
- Tickets: $15 general public; $12 seniors, students and unwaged people; $10 for parties of 10 or more people. Opening night special: $8 general public. No eftpos.
