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Home > Classes & Workshops > Morley College’s traditional one penny lecture

Morley College’s traditional one penny lecture

By Caroline King - January 20, 2020Posted in : Classes & Workshops

This month, attend Morley College’s oldest tradition, The Penny Lecture, with actor Samuel Blenkin.

Morley College London will welcome actor Samuel Blenkin to deliver the next talk in their Penny Lectures series. The lecture, which is entitled Performance and Positivity, will take place at the College’s main centre on Westminster Bridge Road, on Monday 27th January 2020.

Blenkin is an artist, musician and performer based in London. He has been acting since he was six years old and has been a professional actor for the past two years. He is perhaps best known for his role as Scorpius Malfoy in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child on London’s West End. He is currently appearing in The Ocean at The End of The Lane at the National Theatre in London, and has also appeared in Peaky Blinders and Pennyworth.

In this lecture, Blenkin will share some of the experiences from his first youth theatre show, to applying for drama school and ultimately working in what can be a difficult and challenging industry. He will discuss the key ideas behind theatre and screen acting, and the way actors prepare for roles, offering an insight into how his work crosses over into everyday life. He will also share the importance of how drama, theatre and acting can help everyone speak confidently and honestly, and aid general wellbeing, regardless of whether or not they plan to build a career in acting.

Morley’s oldest tradition dates back to when it was first founded. The Penny Lectures were an initiative started by Emma Cons, as part of her plan to make education affordable and accessible for working class people in Lambeth, Southwark and beyond.

Every week, eminent scientists were invited to provide a lecture on some aspect of science, with subjects including The Telephone (or how to talk to a man a hundred miles away), Light and Colour, and Why is the Sea Salty? The low cost of entry – just a penny – and the evening time slots for these lectures made them a great success with the public, resulting in substantial philanthropic funding that led to the opening of the Morley Memorial College for Working Men and Women.

Today the Penny Lectures are no longer restricted to scientific lectures, with recent topics including Reading Intelligence: Novelists on Education and Ability, Cross-Class Encounters: Virginia Woolf at Morley, and Soldier Photographs of the First World War. However, the ticket cost remains a penny, with all money collected at the events going towards the college’s bursary fund to provide support for students who are in hardship.

When: 27th January 2020
Where: Morley College, Westminster Bridge Road, London
£: 1p on the door (register in advance)

More info: www.morleycollege.ac.uk and www.eventbrite.co.uk

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