- Morley College
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Morley College Type Further Education Principal Ela Piotrowska Location 61 Westminster Bridge Road
London
SE1 7HT
England
Gender Mixed Ages –no upper age limit Website www.morleycollege.ac.uk Morley College is an adult education college in London, England. It was founded in the 1880s and has a student population of 10,806 adult students.[1] 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.
Contents
History
In the early 1880s, 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’ and success in attracting substantial philanthropic funding, led in 1889 to the opening of Morley Memorial College for Working Men and Women. The College was founded by an endowment from Samuel Morley MP for Nottingham and later Bristol. Samuel Morley is buried at Dr Watts' Walk, Abney Park Cemetery, in Stoke Newington, London.
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.
Around the same time as the founding of Morley College (c.1880s), concern for the education of working people led to the establishment of other institutions in south London such as the forerunner of the South London Gallery.
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 main music room is named for Gustav Holst who was Music director at the college from 1907 to 1924.
Notable staff members
- Cornelius Cardew
- John Gardner (composer)
- Walter Goehr
- Gustav Holst
- Anthony Milner
- Mátyás Seiber
- Michael Tippett
- Ralph Vaughan Williams
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 Theatre School enjoyed success during the 1980s and early 1990s under the direction of Paul A Thompson (who was resident dramatist with the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1977 and with the National Theatre 1977 to 1979) and Brian Croucher (who played a number of roles in TV shows including EastEnders, Blake's 7, Doctor Who, The Bill, Casualty, Doctors and Edge of Darkness).
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 plays in 2005 included: Short and Girlie, Bedlamb, Twice as Loud, Mulabanda Productions, and Acting the Goat.
Notable staff members
- Keith Johnstone
- Craig Snelling
- Brian Croucher
- Paul A Thompson
Morley College keeps Drama Department
In late 2006, it was announced that the drama department would be closed, in response to a small reduction in government funding. Dominic Grant, Drama tutor, lead a campaign to save the long history of drama at Morley College. A campaign video and website was produced to raise awareness. Supporters of adult education in general and of drama in particular were asked to lend their support.
After a robust and rigorous campaign with support from thousands including Kevin Spacey, Ken Loach, Michael Bogdanov and Richard Wilson, the Morley Drama Department was saved. A full programme of courses ran in 2007-8.
Art Gallery
Morley Gallery opened in 1968 as part of the Arts Centre in Morley College. The Arts Centre, situated in an old pub adjacent to the main College building, has a painting and drawing studio and a print studio on the first, second and third floors. Morley Gallery occupies the whole of the ground floor with six imposing windows facing Westminster Bridge Road and King Edward Walk, London,SE1.
The Gallery shows between eight to twelve exhibitions a year, each exhibition running on average for one month. The annual exhibition programme usually includes exhibitions of painting, printmaking, sculpture, photography, ceramics, textiles, installations, digital and sound art by independent artists and groups. Over the past 40 years many high profile artists have exhibited in the gallery, including solo exhibitions by Peter Blake ‘Cabinet of Curiosities’ and several shows by Maggi Hambling including the acclaimed ‘Father’.
Morley Gallery is an integral part of College life and there is a strong commitment to exhibit work made by Morley students. For some students, such as Advanced Painting Workshop and Advanced Textile Workshop, exhibiting in the Morley Gallery provides an important part of their academic year.
The Gallery oversees an impressive permanent art collection throughout College. This includes a striking early painting by Bridget Riley in the foyer, a large painting by John Piper in the Gustav Holst auditorium and portraits of the College’s principals painted by Maggi Hambling. Miss Hambling has been a highly member of valued teaching staff at the College since the 1970s.
There is no entrance fee to exhibitions and artists’ talks in the gallery are also free of charge.
Some noteworthy artists connected with Morley Gallery:
- Maggi Hambling
- Peter Blake
- Bridget Riley
- David Hockney
- John Piper
- Edward Bawden
- Alan Thornhill
- Miles Richmond
- Lawrence Toynbee
- Cyril Reason
References
- ^ Annual accounts for the year ending 31 August 2009.
External links
- Morley College official site
- Short and Girlie Theatre company
- Bedlamb theatre company
- Morley Chamber Choir
- Save Morley Drama campaign video
- Save Morley Drama campaign website
- Morley College Art Gallery & Exhibitions
Categories:- Education in Lambeth
- Higher education colleges in England
- Further education colleges in London
- Educational institutions established in 1889
- Contemporary art galleries in the United Kingdom
- Art museums and galleries in London
- Visitor attractions in Lambeth
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