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Motley was the name of the theatre design firm made up of three English designers, sisters Margaret Harris (1904–2000) and Sophie Harris (1900–1966), and Elizabeth Montgomery Wilmot (1902–1993).
They met at art school in the 1920s and went on to great success as John Gielgud's designers during the 1930s. They started teaching theatre design at Michel Saint-Denis's London Theatre Studio (1936–1939), the first time a design course had been incorporated into a drama school in the UK. Margaret Harris and Elizabeth Montgomery spent WW2 in the USA, designing for broadway, and Harris also working with Charles Eames on his moulded plywood airplane parts. Sophia Harris, now married to George Devine, and mother of their child Harriet, stayed in the UK designing for stage and screen. After the war Margaret Harris returned to the UK, and both sisters once again joined Saint-Denis, teaching design at the Old Vic Theatre School (1947–1953). Elizabeth Montgomery stayed in the USA designing many Broadway hits. All three continued to design under the name Motley for both stage and screen.
In 1966, Margaret Harris founded a theatre design course which continues to this day, now under the directorship of designer Alison Chitty (OBE).
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