Absurdism Workshop
Clint Bolster
Booking Details
Event details
The Absurdism Workshop invites senior Drama students to explore one of the 20th century’s most profound artistic movements.
By investigating the principles of absurdist theatre — constant consciousness, fragmentation, waiting, uncertainty, and nonlinear narrative — students explore how theatre can reflect the paradoxical, unpredictable, and often meaningless aspects of existence.
Students will use philosophical inquiry, improvisation, movement, non-verbal communication, and scene creation to grapple with complex existential questions and artistic expression.
This workshop challenges students to think critically, reflect creatively, and engage physically and emotionally with abstract concepts.
Students are introduced to the world of absurdist theatre through two key theatrical principles:
- A Constant Stream of Consciousness: Explore how fragmented, nonlinear thought patterns can shape characterisation, dialogue, and movement in performance.
- The Ability to Wait: Understand “waiting” as a metaphor for existential uncertainty, exploring tension, inertia, and unresolved action on stage.
Through physical improvisation, scene-building exercises, script analysis (e.g., Waiting for Godot, The Bald Soprano, Endgame), and philosophical inquiry, students will experiment with how theatre can embrace ambiguity, contradiction, humour, futility, and the unknowable.
Key learning outcomes
DRAMA (Years 11–12)
Senior Drama Units: Contemporary Theatre, Absurdism, Non-Realist Performance
- Exploration of key absurdist texts and performance conventions.
- Understanding how performance can reflect philosophical and existential ideas.
- Developing performance skills using non-verbal, physical, and fragmented dramatic forms.
- Experimenting with improvisation, surreal imagery, ritual, repetition, and silence.
Senior Drama Syllabus (General) - Key Learning Areas:
Making:
Devise, rehearse, and perform original and scripted absurdist works that challenge traditional theatrical conventions.
Manipulate dramatic languages (role, relationship, situation, voice, movement, space, symbol) to create meaning.
Responding:
Interpret and evaluate the purpose and context of absurdist performance practices.
Analyse the effectiveness of dramatic elements and conventions to communicate existential ideas.
Styles and Conventions:
Study key features of Absurdism: cyclical structure, fragmentation, illogical dialogue, distorted time, repetition, clowning, and ritual.
Examine how theatrical practitioners such as Samuel Beckett, Eugène Ionesco, Jean Genet, and Harold Pinter shaped this movement.
Critical Reflection:
Critically analyse how absurdist theatre explores human existence, uncertainty, and the breakdown of meaning.
Reflect on how performance can express complex philosophical ideas without clear resolutions.
GENERAL CAPABILITIES (Years 11–12)
Critical and Creative Thinking
Question and challenge assumptions about narrative, logic, and meaning.
Explore divergent thinking strategies through performance improvisation.
Generate new ways of expressing complex emotional and philosophical ideas.
Personal and Social Capability
Build resilience in embracing ambiguity and creative risk-taking.
Collaborate effectively in ensemble settings where outcomes are deliberately open-ended and unpredictable.
Ethical Understanding
Reflect on ethical dilemmas and philosophical paradoxes within human existence.
Understand differing perspectives on meaning, suffering, and purpose.
STYLE / FORM
Absurdist Theatre
Physical Theatre
Nonlinear and Fragmented Narrative
Clowning and Ritual-based Movement
Minimalist Dialogue and Non-Verbal Communication
Additional Information
- Duration: Various (flexible to school needs – typically 2 hours)
- Suitability: Grades 11–12
- Available Terms: 1–4
- Venue: Drama Studio, Large Classroom, Theatre Space
Contact Clint Bolster for Absurdism Workshop
About the Artist
CLINT BOLSTER is a Clown, Physical Actor, Producer and Teaching Artist based in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. With over 22 years of professional experience, Clint has dedicated his career to creating original theatrical works and training artists across multiple disciplines. His original creations —HIGH TEA with BOOFF, BOLSTER & LEE: The Knock Em Downs, The Lost Balloon, and The Bubble Canteen—alongside ensemble projects such as The Mask Family, Manoeuvre, and Homunculus Theatre, are programmed widely across Australia, New Zealand, and Asia. These works feature prominently at major arts festivals and in community, cultural, and educational settings, having reached a live global audience in the millions.
Clint has performed extensively throughout the United Kingdom, Europe, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Japan—including over 900 solo shows in Japanese at Universal Studios Japan, Osaka. He has toured over 500 primary and secondary schools across Australia. Most recently, he performed in the 2022/2023 Australian tour of Slava’s Snow Show and was accepted into the Cirque du Soleil database of Clowns.
As a dedicated Teaching Artist, Clint has delivered training and masterclasses for actor training institutions and universities worldwide, including the Queensland University of Technology (QLD), Griffith University (QLD), Drama Australia (AUS), Pontio University Wales (UK), and Shakespeare4All (Hong Kong), to name a few.
A proud Queensland member and mentor for the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance, Clint also serves as a Board Member for Indel-Ability Arts. His extensive touring and producing credits include collaborations with Queensland Theatre, Brisbane Festival, Cairns Festival, Cluster Arts Global, and Live Nation, among many others.
For a complete list of credits, visit – https://www.clintbolster.com/performance-credits
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