HIGH TEA with BOOFF is a work of installation clown theatre. The show tours with its venue – a richly detailed lounge room replete with custom-made furniture, bespoke chandeliers, shared stories, and piping hot tea. The work deploys auto-biographical storytelling and narrative-driven clowning. 

BOOFF is a regal, mischief-loving, high-status impresario. Disarmingly charming and resplendent in full-face makeup and a tailored suit – he looks as if he may have sprung from a lost collaboration between Barry Humphries, Lewis Carroll, Tim Burton, and Julian Clary. With a twinkle in his eye, a glint of mischief, perhaps even buffoonery… BOOFF wants you to love him, and he wants you to laugh with him as soon as you do. Physically and verbally ridiculous, BOOFF can’t blend in, but then he doesn’t really try.

Anchored in true shared stories, the audience experience is akin to a visit with your favorite aunt – a surreal tea party that’s partly scripted and partly improvised. As a character, BOOFF is a larger-than-life personality whose company, all people are equal and equally worthy of reverence or ribaldry. The heart of the show’s appeal is BOOFF – who is both other-worldly and transgressive, at once strong and vulnerable, uniquely himself while also emblematic of us all – in the way that actual clowns are reflective of the universal human condition. 

HIGH TEA with BOOFF has been created to service the global festival, community, and corporate markets – oscillating (depending on the audience) between a PG – R Rating. BOOFF resonates with various program platforms, from contemporary performance programs to queer, comedy, theatre, cabaret, and arts festivals, to community and corporate events – even on a barge floating down the Brisbane River; the possibilities are limitless. 

The production is housed within an air-conditioned custom-built 20ft shipping container that expands to create a 6m x 5m venue. The container is a high-cube style unit – with extra height than standard – that has been richly transformed down to the finest detail.

Humbly boasting a 250 SOLD OUT Performance Season across 5 Festivals in 2021/2022 – during the COVID19 Pandemic – BOOFF has returned from his holiday off the beaches of Barbados and is looking forward to hearing audiences once again exclaiming to their friends – “I Just Got BOOFF’D!”

For more details – visit – https://www.clintbolster.com/highteawithbooff

Australian Curriculum Connections – Grade 8 – 12

 The Arts – Drama (Years 8–12)

Strand: Making & Responding 

Years 8–10

Making (Performing & Creating)

• ACADRM040 / ACADRM041
  • Students explore clowning, status, and satire to devise and rehearse scenes using improvisation, exaggeration, and physical comedy, inspired by BOOFF’s style.
  • They investigate the use of gesture, facial expression, vocal modulation, and proxemics to create character and mood in intimate performance spaces like BOOFF’s container lounge.
• ACADRM042
  • Students collaborate to create their own autobiographical or character-based performances, experimenting with non-linear storytelling, heightened characterisation, and breaking the fourth wall, as seen in HIGH TEA with BOOFF.

Responding (Evaluating & Analysing)

• ACADRR045 / ACADRR046
  • Students analyse the aesthetics of clown and immersive theatre, considering how BOOFF’s make-up, costume, lighting, set design, and character all work together to shape audience engagement and meaning.
  • Students reflect on the impact of humour, pathos, and personal narrative in communicating ideas about identity, vulnerability, and the human condition.

Years 11–12 (Senior Drama)

(Based on QCAA Drama Syllabus or other state equivalents)

• Form and Style:
  Students explore HIGH TEA with BOOFF as an exemplar of Non-Realism, particularly Clown, Cabaret, and Installation Theatre. The work features presentational acting, direct audience address, stylised movement, and heightened character.
• Contexts:
  • Contemporary Political & Social Commentary: BOOFF gently critiques ideas around status, acceptance, and human eccentricity.
  • Autobiographical & Queer Theatre: The work offers opportunities to study the performance of identity and truth through a stylised theatrical lens.
• Aesthetic Frameworks:
  Students consider:
  • The symbolism of BOOFF’s constructed world and how it creates metaphor.
  • The emotional tension between theatrical comedy and real-life vulnerability.

English (Years 8–12)

Strands: Literature, Language, Literacy

Years 8–10

• ACELT1633 / ACELT1641 (Literature)
  • Examine the way satire, parody, and irony are used in BOOFF’s characterisation to critique social expectations, manners, and perceptions of identity.
  • Explore how character-driven narratives can reveal universal human experiences through the lens of the absurd and personal.
• ACELY1742 / ACELY1749 (Literacy)
  • Construct oral and written analytical responses to the performance, focusing on elements such as audience engagement, staging, language use, symbolism, and structure.
  • Develop and deliver a creative monologue or spoken word piece inspired by BOOFF’s style and themes.
• ACELA1564 (Language)
  • Investigate the use of voice, irony, double entendre, and camp as tools for layered storytelling in clown theatre.

Years 11–12 (Senior English)

• Study HIGH TEA with BOOFF as a live text to explore:
  • Performative voice and persona in public storytelling.
  • The interplay of language and visual symbolism in immersive experiences.
  • How personal and political identities are shaped, masked, and revealed through satire and theatricality.

General Capabilities

Critical & Creative Thinking

• Analyse the creative decisions made by the performer and design team to elicit emotional responses.
• Consider how comedy and absurdity are structured and performed to prompt reflection on social norms, grief, memory, and acceptance.

Personal & Social Capability

• Develop understanding of self and others through BOOFF’s invitation to be present, open, and vulnerable.
• Discuss the role of laughter and shared stories in resilience and emotional wellbeing.

Intercultural Understanding

• Examine clowning as a universal performance language across cultures and eras (e.g., Commedia dell’Arte, Bouffon, Vaudeville, Queer Cabaret).
• Consider BOOFF as a representation of both the ‘outsider’ and the ‘truth-teller,’ opening a space for diverse expressions of gender, queerness, and identity.

Ethical Understanding

• Evaluate the ethics of using autobiographical material in performance.
• Explore the responsibility of performers and audiences when engaging with personal, vulnerable, or transgressive themes in public settings.

Themes, Styles, and Contexts

Identity & Transformation	Full-Face Clown	Contemporary Australian Theatre
Queerness & Visibility	Non-Realistic / Postdramatic Theatre	LGBTQIA+ Performance
Memory & Vulnerability	Autobiographical Storytelling	COVID-era and Post-COVID Artistic Expression
Satire & Status	Cabaret / Bouffon	Humour as Social Commentary
Belonging & Connection	Site-Specific Immersive Installation	Festival & Community Engagement

Suggested Activities for the Classroom

Pre-Show

• Research traditions of clowning across cultures (e.g. Bouffon, Pierrot, Commedia).
• Watch short clips of similar clown works (e.g. Slava’s Snow Show, Barry Humphries as Dame Edna).
• Prepare discussion prompts around identity, performance persona, and the line between fiction and truth.

During the Show

• Observe audience-performer interactions. What techniques does BOOFF use to invite or challenge the audience?
• Note how BOOFF’s set, costume, props, and sound create atmosphere.

Post-Show

• Journal reflections: What surprised you? What did you feel? What stuck with you?
• Group work: Devise short scenes inspired by BOOFF’s world – absurd, heartfelt, interactive.
• Creative task: Write a character monologue as if you were visiting BOOFF’s lounge for tea.

 PAST & UPCOMING TOURS