Motley Theatre Design Course
Motley Theatre Design Course is a one-year independent theatre design course in London. It was founded at Sadler's Wells Opera in 1966.
History of the school
Sadler's Wells Opera and English National Opera
In 1962,
In 1966 a room was found for Percy to teach in, in nearby St John Street, and the Sadler's Wells Theatre Design Course began with 8 students. Students were to come from various parts of the world and disciplines so they could learn from each other. They were taught the techniques of their craft by staff at Sadlers Wells Opera and others. Projects were to be mainly led by directors. In an interview with Michael Billington in 1991, Percy Harris explained her philosophy of teaching: “It's all based on the work of Michel Saint-Denis…(who) believed that the most important person in the theatre was the dramatist, then the actors, and then the director and designer. He argued that the designer's job was to show the play and the actors to the best possible advantage. Also that they should not decorate: they should design. I suppose that is why our designers are very popular with dramatists. Edward Bond said that he couldn't have written for the theatre if it hadn't been for the Course, especially Hayden Griffin.”[4] Hayden Griffin is the co-director of the school.
In 1969, Sadlers Wells Opera moved to their present home at the London Coliseum and became English National Opera. For a time the school moved into the vacated space at the top of the Sadler's Wells Theatre. In 1971, the school moved to Camperdown House, Aldgate to be near the company, and at this point became the English National Opera Theatre Design Course. Teachers at this time included Bill Bryden and Maria Björnson and students were also taught by the creative team at English National Opera who worked in the same building.
Riverside Studios and the Almeida Theatre
In 1979, organisational changes at English National Opera necessitated the school moving to the Riverside Studios, then under the lively directorship of David Gothard. It became the Theatre Design Course at the Riverside. The aims and training of the school were in harmony with the Riverside ethos and the school developed further ideas and flexibility. Students had access, either through formal teaching or observation, to Samuel Beckett, Edward Bond, Andrei Tarkovsky, Angela Carter, Bill Gaskill, David Leveaux, Anselm Kiefer, Sir Jonathan Miller, Sir David Hare, Tadeusz Kantor, Elijah Moshinsky, Sir Peter Hall, Michael Bogdanov, Danny Boyle and Percy's collaborator Elisabeth Montgomery. Students collaborated with young directors at the Drama Centre.
This arrangement lasted until 1987, when management changes at Riverside led to Artistic Director Pierre Audi welcoming the school at the Almeida Theatre which was also far-reaching in its ethos and exposed the young designers to Pierre's experimental programming of drama, contemporary music and opera. Teachers and visitors included Danny Boyle, Simon McBurney, Alec Guinness and Simon Callow.
Royal National Theatre and Covent Garden
By 1991, Pierre Audi had become Artistic Director of
Theatre Royal Drury Lane
In 1994 the school moved to the scene dock in the
In early 2000, Percy Harris, who was still teaching at the age of 95, fell ill and died a few months later.[5] The school continued to adhere to Percy's teaching philosophy. With an intake now of 11 students, the school initiated an annual project with students on the MFA Theatre Directing Course at Birkbeck, University of London. Teachers during this period included Lindsay Posner, Mike Leigh, James Macdonald, Steve Tompkins, David Eldridge, Simon Stephens, Martin Duncan, Philip Langridge, Michael Attenborough, Steven Pimlott, Katie Mitchell.
In 2007 Alison Chitty RDI OBE was awarded the Misha Black Award for Innovation in Design Education. According to Professor Frank Height, "Misha Black had a powerful belief in the creative interaction of all design disciplines and removed previously perceived barriers in design education. In my opinion, Alison Chitty has taken this belief into her chosen field of design and used it to achieve international recognition for the excellence of the application of the creative process in both traditional and new fields of entertainment and is an exemplar of advanced design education which is being fostered in so many UK institutions".[7]
In December 2010, Alison Chitty and Ashley Martin-Davis announced that they would be leaving at the end of the academic year. The Chairman, John Simpson, announced that the school was facing difficulties in the current political and economic climate and might have to close. In January 2011, the Alumni and Friends of Motley Theatre Design Course[8] formed to support the school through the next testing period in its long history. After a robust campaign, and facing significant pressure, the chairman John Simpson gave a public speech at the opening of the annual student exhibition at the National Theatre, reversing his decision and announcing that he would find a way for the course to continue, saying that he could not "look Percy in the eye if he met her at the pearly gates". To date, Motley Theatre Design Course is still trading,[9] but not running any courses or enabling alumni access to the library assembled by Percy Harris over the course of her teaching career.
Notable alumni
This section may be too long and excessively detailed. (August 2020) |
- Jon Bausor, set & costume designer
- Alexandra Byrne, costume designer
- Isabella Bywater set & costume designer Bayerische Staatsoper, New York City Opera, Teatro Verga, Teatro Lirico di Cagliari, Teatro Massimo, West Australian Opera, Victoria State Opera, Royal Swedish Opera
- Kim Carpenter winner of Helpmann Award, Artistic Director of the Theatre of Image, Opera Australia, Sydney Festival, Adelaide Festival
- Staatsoper Hamburg, Royal Opera House, English National Opera, Glyndebourne Festival Opera, Rambert Dance Company, Cullberg Ballet, Russell Maliphant
- Emmy nominated production designer Billy Elliot, Mama Mia!, The Hours, Sliding Doors, Sylvia, Scoop, Vanity Fair
- Mini Grey Kate Greenaway Medal winning children's illustrator Biscuit Bear, The Adventures of the Dish and the Spoon
- Irish Film and Television Awards, Dublin International Film Festival.
- Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, Iris, The Borrowers
- Professor Shawn Kerwin Associate Professor at Department of Theatre, Stratford Shakespeare Festival,
- Royal Ballet, Royal Danish Ballet
- Jean-Marc Puissant stage and costume designer, curator and consultant Joyce Theater, National Ballet of Canada, New York City Ballet, New York University's Center for Ballet and the Arts, Los Angeles Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Opera Theater of Saint Louis, Philadelphia Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, Santa Fe Opera, Texas Ballet, Alexander Whitley Dance Company, Ballet Black, Birmingham Royal Ballet, Candoco, Curve Theatre Leicester, Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Finborough Theatre, Menier Chocolate Factory, Northern Ballet, Phoenix Dance Theatre, Rambert Dance Company, The Royal Ballet, The Royal Opera, Scottish Ballet, Scottish Opera, Theatre Royal Stratford East, Badisches Staatstheater, Bayerische Staatsoper, Venice Biennale, Compagnie Furinkai Paris, Deutsche Oper Am Rhein Dusseldorf, Dutch National Ballet, Gothenburg Opera Dance Company, Grand Théâtre de Genève Ballet, Hamburg Ballet, KomischeOper Berlin, Nationaltheater Mannheim, Nederlands Dans Theater 2, Opéra National du Rhin Ballet, Oslo Opera, Rome Opera Ballet, Royal Ballet of Flanders, Théâtre du Châtelet, Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía, Bunkamura Tokyo / K-Ballet, National Ballet of Japan, The Australian Ballet, Cuban National Ballet
References
- ^ quoting Norman Tucker, p.174 Opera for Everybody: The Story of English National Opera, Author: Susie Gilbert
ISBN 978-0-571-22493-7
- ISBN 1-874044-23-6
- ISBN 0-87413-569-9
- ISBN 0-87413-569-9
- ^ TheGuardian.com. 12 May 2000.
- ^ "The Motley Theatre Design Course Exhibition 2010 - Exhibitions - National Theatre". Archived from the original on 2012-04-03. Retrieved 2011-02-26.
- ^ http://www.mishablackawards.org.uk/articles.php?article_id=18&rowstart=1[permanent dead link]
- ^ "Motley Alumni". Motley Alumni.
- ^ "Theatre Design Course Limited". Companies House.