Marjorie Lynette Sigley
| Marjorie Lyette Sigley 'Sigi' | |
|---|---|
| Born |
22 December 1928 Buxton, Derbyshire, England |
| Died | 13 August 1997 (aged 68) London, England |
| Nationality | British |
| Education | Goldsmith's College, London; University of Manchester |
| Known for | Directing, Painting, drawing, printmaking, writing |
| Movement | Modern art |
Marjorie Lynette Sigley (22 December 1928 – 13 August 1997), also known as Sigi, was an English artist, writer, actress, teacher, choreographer, theatre director and television producer. She was instrumental in establishing, developing and promoting forms of youth theatre and television in both the United Kingdom and the United States of America.
Marjorie Sigley was born on 22 December 1928, known to everyone as "Sigi", she took passionate pleasure in the arts and would travel huge, impractical distances to see a play, a ballet or an opera. But she also believed in art as an educational force, and her greatest achievement lay in pioneering many of the attitudes towards children's drama that we now take for granted. Sigley not only introduced thousands of children to what she called "the wonder of theatre", she also involved them directly in the making of it.
Sigley came from "a solid, very traditional" working-class family in Buxton, Derbyshire, where her father worked for ICI and her mother was a professional cook. From the age of 10, she became an avid consumer of movies and plays, going to everything that was staged at the Buxton repertory theatre. As a student she attended Goldsmith's College, London, studying theatre, music and dance.
She was awarded a fellowship at Manchester University's drama department and it was there that she began to develop her (then novel) concept of children's drama. She became involved in theatre workshops and participation theatre, taking groups of her students to the Brighton Festival with their work. She was later to direct the Malcolm Williamson opera Julius Caesar Jones as part of the festival's opera workshops.
She returned to London to a teaching career, which she combined with her drama activities. At Markfield and Woodlands Park Schools in North London, she began by adapting stage classics for performance by young children who mostly come from underprivileged backgrounds. The children were also encouraged to write, cast, design, produce and star in their own productions. In 1960, Marjorie founded the City Literary Drama Company. This presented its own work, ranging from original pantomimes to experimental mime and movement workshops at the City Lit Theatre, with people such as Ronald Smith Wilson, Claud Newman, and Dorothea Alexander. In 1968 the company visited Warsaw, Leningrad and Moscow with its children's drama programmes.
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