Morley College
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Morley College is an adult education college in London, England. It was founded in the 1880s and has a student population of more than 15,000 adult students. It offers courses in a wide variety of fields including science, languages, drama, dance, music, computing, exercise and health and humanities.
Morley College is located in the Waterloo District of London, on the South Bank, close to the city's arts centre. Its buildings occupy sites on either side of the boundary between the London boroughs of Southwark and Lambeth.
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[edit] History
In the early 1880's Emma Cons and her supporters took over the Royal Victoria Hall, (the ‘Old Vic’) a boozy, rowdy home of melodrama, and turned it into the Royal Victoria Coffee and Music Hall to provide inexpensive entertainment ‘purged of innuendo in word and action’. The programme included music-hall turns with opera recitals, temperance meetings, and, from 1882, lectures every Tuesday by eminent scientists.
Local enthusiasm for these ‘penny lectures’ led to the establishment in 1889 of Morley Memorial College for Working Men and Women. The College was run separately from the Theatre, but held its classes and student meetings back-stage and in the theatre dressing rooms.
The two split in the 1920’s, when Emma's niece and successor Lilian Baylis raised funds to acquire a separate site nearby.
The college was founded by an endowment from Samuel Morley, MP for Nottingham and Bristol. Samuel Morley is buried at Dr Watts' Walk, Abney Park Cemetery, in Stoke Newington, London.
Around the same time (1880's), concern for the education of working people led to the establishment of the forerunner to the South London Gallery.
[edit] Music Department
Michael Tippett was director of music at Morley College from 1940 to 1951. His first connection with the College was as conductor of an orchestra of unemployed musicians, who gave the first performance of one of his best loved early works, the Concerto for Double String Orchestra.
Morley Chamber Choir, the Morley Chamber Orchestra, and Morley College Choir are established music groups within the College.
Its music room is named for Gustav Holst who was Music director at the college from 1907.
[edit] Notable staff members
[edit] Drama Department
The Drama department began in the rehearsal rooms of the Old Vic Theatre. Classes continued to be held there as recently as 2004, although most drama classes are now held in the main building at Westminster Bridge Road.
The college was the scene of early experiments in Improv Theatre when Keith Johnstone brought his troupe from the Royal Court Theatre Studio (later to become the Theatre Machine) to demonstrate his ideas to his Contemporary Theatre class. (source "Impro" ISBN 0-413-46430-X)
Courses have included Absolute Beginners Acting, more advanced classes, leading to a year-long auditioned Acting Studio course from which students were expected to go on and write, direct and produce their own theatre.
The department also combined with the education department of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre to teach the "Groundlings on Stage" course.
The Acting Studio was particularly prolific under the tutelage of Craig Snelling, from 1993-2005, during which at least a dozen theatre companies were formed which went on to produce plays in various theatres at London Fringe venues.
Companies producing in 2005 included Short and Girlie, Bedlamb, Twice as Loud, Mulabanda Productions, and Acting the Goat.
