A FORMER Aberystwyth performer, turned comedy writer, turned cartoonist will this week return to a town he loves to pass on some of his skills to the next generation and receive an honourary fellowship.
Harry Venning first came to Aberystwyth to study history at university. He studied there from 1977 to 1980 and, like most students, fell in love with the seaside town.
“After I got my degree I couldn’t bear to leave as I loved the place so much, so I stayed on for a further five years!” Harry told the Cambrian News.
“Me and some friends formed a comedy troupe called Aber Fringe, which performed in the Arts Centre studio and Theatr y Werin, and this morphed into a touring theatre company called Theatre West, which would take shows around schools, village halls, theatres, community centres and castles throughout Wales.
“One time we performed on a traffic roundabout outside Caernarfon, another time we were pelted with fruit in Cardiff city centre.
“Frequently the cast would outnumber the audience, and there was a marked lack of the glamour and adoration associated with showbusiness, but it was a very wonderful time.”
Harry pulled himself away from Aberystwyth in 1985.
“Since then I have been back just twice, and I am extremely excited at the thought of returning to the university to receive an honourary fellowship, and to perform my cartoon workshop.”
Release Your Inner Cartoonist is at Aberystwyth Arts Centre on Sunday, 10 July at 2pm where you can learn how to transform a flat piece of paper into a riot of laughs, an explosion of adventure, a cacophony of sound and a gobsmack of disbelief.
Also discover the many uses of the humble asterisk, how to do a caricature, when to use a speech bubble and what the Eskimo brothers said to each other in Harry’s favourite joke ever.
Billed as being ‘For all the family - except the miserable ones’, participants will benefit from the extraordinary talents of the award-winning cartoonist, illustrator and comedy writer.
Harry is the creator of the Guardian’s Clare in the Community cartoon. His work has appeared in publications including The Independent, Sunday Times, The Stage and the The Radio Times.
Penguin Books have published his scripts and, together with David Ramadan, he has written 12 highly successful series of Clare in the Community, starring Sally Phillips, for BBC Radio 4.
Calendars of his cartoons have been available for the past 10 years or so.
In 2017 he became the UK Art Trust strip cartoonist of the year. He has also won a Sony Radio Comedy Award.
As well as Harry’s Release Your Inner Cartoonist workshop at the arts centre, he will also deliver a talk called The Art Of The Cartoon to the Aberystwyth branch of the University of the Third Age on Thursday, 14 July at 11am at the St Paul’s Church, Queen’s Road.