The Absurdist Truths of Climate Change

In this episode, Amanda speaks with Australian playwrights Oliver Gough and Stephen Carleton about performing climate change on the stage—and the role of absurdity in communicating dire issues.

Oliver Gough is an emerging playwright and MPhil Candidate in Creative Writing at the University of Queensland. He was a participant in Playlab’s 2021 ‘Incubator’ program, and his plays have been produced by UQ’s Underground Theatre Company and at Brisbane’s Anywhere Festival. His creative practice seeks to interrogate climate-change ravaged futures and use absurdism to conceive of the Anthropocene.   

Stephen Carleton is Associate Professor of Drama at the University of Queensland. His plays have won the Patrick White Playwrights’ Award and the Griffin Award for Best New Australian Play, and have been produced in theatre companies across Australia. His gothic plays sit on high school drama curricula; and his climate change absurdist  texts like ‘The Turquoise Elephant’ and ‘New Babylon’ have been the subject of academic and scholarly  review, including this year’s Nick Herb Boojs title, ‘100 Plays to Save the World’. He teaches and researches Australian drama, Gothic drama, playwriting, and theatre historiography.

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