Home / Event / COMEDY SCRIPT-WRITING AND CLOWN – a 6-day residential course

COMEDY SCRIPT-WRITING AND CLOWN – a 6-day residential course

with Harry ter Haar and Vivian Gladwell
with Guest Facilitator Kim Fuller

A course for script writers or anyone wishing to learn about writing comedy. This course will attempt to explore how clown and clowning improvisations can inform and inspire comedy writers. We will use the insights discovered through clowning improvisations as the starting point for a creating scenes and characters. 

Small groups will:

  • write their scripts
  • find ways of playing these on stage
  • use concepts of theme, tone, farce and tragedy to structure their writing
  • Other topics – Absurd situations, nonsense, truth, authenticity, rhythm, emotions

A public performance is planned on Thursday evening. 

NOTE: This course is recommended for anyone wishing to join our upcoming course on Creating your own SOLO performance in 2021.

Facilitators:

HARRY TER HAAR
Harry ter Haar studied screenwriting at the New York Film Academy and attended the Royal Court Young Writers Programme. He has written and produced numerous short films, sitcom pilots and plays. His first short film Harry, Henry and the Prostitute stars Charlie Cox (Daredevil) and Fearne Cotton. Harry also acts in his work and in 2017 he wrote, produced and acted in three comedy plays on the London fringe, one of which was highly commended at the LOST One Act Festival. His recent short comedy film Boss Kiss, which he wrote and acted in, won best film at the CFK film festival. He has also written and acted in a new short film called Cheating which was adapted from his stage play that was staged at The Bunker Theatre in 2018. In 2019 a series of five short comedy plays Harry wrote were staged at the Jermyn Street Theatre. He is currently writing a comedy feature film and a sitcom pilot. 

KIM FULLER (Guest Facilitator)
Kim Fuller has been writing for television for over 40 years. He has written for a number of successful television comedy programs including Not The Nine O’Clock News, on which he first met Mel Smith; Carrott’s Lib, starring Jasper Carrott; The Lenny Henry Show ;[1] Spitting Image; and Red Dwarf. Fuller was also writer and producer of The Complete Guide To Relationships, Miami 7 and L.A. 7, the latter two of which followed the adventures of chart-topping band S Club 7. LA 7 was the highest rated children’s show in the UK, achieving a worldwide audience of over 90 million. Fuller has also worked on the BBC Radio Four comedy series The Castle.

 Vivian Gladwell

Vivian is the founder and director of Nose to Nose and has given hundreds of workshops around the world. He lives both in the UK and France where he started clowning in 1978. He speaks French and English fluently.
Vivian began teaching in 1988 as part of the Lifeways Festival at Emerson College – UK. He trained as a facilitator with the Bataclown in 1990 and joined their team in 1991 also working as a modern day Court Jester (Clownanalyst).
He created Nose to Nose UK in 1990, Nose to Nose of North America in 2006 and Fool View, the Social Clowning group and has trained facilitators in the UK, the USA, Germany and Italy – view history.
He continues his role as ambassador for the work by researching the applications of clowning in the context of teacher training, medicine, conflict management, ecology and intercultural work in many countries (South Africa, USA, Senegal, Vietnam, India, Malaysia, Italy, Germany, Norway…)

He holds clowning as a social playground for exploring our humanity.


Course fee: £800 – Tuition only
Bursaries are available for Equity members – Please enquire

Accommodation and meals:

Single room and all meals: about £ 324.00
Camping/ Camper van and all meals : about £ 199.00
All meals only : about £77.00

To book your accommodation and meals at Emerson go to
To contact Emerson email

Date and times:
The course begins Sunday – 18h15 (with supper)
Ends Friday – after lunch – 14h30

Venue: Emerson College, Forest Row, East Sussex

Click here to book this course or enquire

Note: On some IPADS or IPHONES you may need to “long press” the link above.

To book a course follow the link Click here to book… above. You will see on the form whether there are available places.  Submit the form with your details and we will let you know how to proceed with payment of your deposit. Your deposit is REFUNDABLE  MORE than 2 months before the start of the course. There is a £20 admin fee for refunds.  If the course is cancelled your deposit will be refunded in full.

Deposits are paid  online.

NOTE: Your place can only be confirmed after we have received your deposit. As the fee quoted usually only covers the course fee, please check you know the total cost of the course (course fee + accommodation and meals). Click here

Once your deposit has been accepted, we will notify you to confirm your place on the course.
You are booked on the course
ONLY when Nose to Nose confirms your place.

If you have questions or problems, email us at mail@nosetonose.info
If full email us at mail@nosetonose.info to go on our waiting list. We’ll let you know when a place becomes available.

MORE INFO CONCERNING COURSE FEE…

Q: Can I talk to someone? A: Yes, just send an email with your phone number to mail@nosetonose.info and we’ll call you as soon as we are free to do so.

Q: Are there still spaces available on the course? A: Just click on the link Click here to book… above. You will see on the form whether there are available places.

Q: Can you put me on the waiting list? A: Sure, just click on the link Click here to enquire and fill the form. We will put you on our waiting list and let you know when a place becomes available.

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