The Butterfly Club, a popular venue in Melbourne’s CBD and a hub of cabaret and independent theatre, is set to close this Sunday 27 July.
Emails from the venue’s Programming Coordinator, sent mid-afternoon today (Friday 25 July) and seen by ArtsHub, broke the news to artists booked into the venue in the coming weeks.
‘Due to sudden and unforeseen operational complications, The Butterfly Club will be closed from Sunday 27 July. Unfortunately, this means that we will no longer be able to stage your show. If you have paid any deposits to us for venue hire, these will be refunded in full, in the coming week,’ the email reads.
‘Any costumes, set pieces or other property of your show that has already been bumped into the venue will need to be collected before 5:00pm, Wednesday 30 July. After this time, we will not be able to guarantee access to the venue to collect any items that remain on site. To ensure that we can facilitate easy site access for you to collect your things, please be sure to book a Bump Out slot in the Rehearsal Calendar.
‘We deeply regret that we are no longer able to stage your wonderful work, and apologise for any understandable inconvenience this may cause,’ the email announced.
A subsequent email, sent less than an hour later, added two extra details.
‘1. Regarding refunding patrons, we will begin the process of refunding tickets early next week.
‘2. It is our understanding that this closure will be indefinite so it will not be possible to postpone.’
At the time of writing, no news of the venue’s impending closure has been posted on The Butterfly Club’s social media channels, nor has an official media release been issued.
ArtsHub has contacted The Butterfly Club’s owner, Simone Pulga, for comment.
One of Melbourne’s most valued cabaret spaces
Cabaret artiste Dolly Diamond was due to direct an upcoming production at The Butterfly Club, Chloe Halley’s solo cabaret debut, Little Miss Typecast.
‘It’s absolutely devastating news as so many of us cut our teeth at The Butterfly Club. They offered an affordable cabaret space for so many artists over the years and my association with them goes back to [the venue’s] South Melbourne days,’ Diamond told ArtsHub in response to today’s news.
‘Is this really the last hoorah for one of Melbourne’s most valued cabaret spaces? Where do I sign, where can I sing?
‘We will be finding a new home for Chloe’s show [Little Miss Typecast] and that announcement will hopefully come soon,’ she continued.
‘Was the burning theatre an omen?’ Diamond concluded, in reference to the production’s poster image.
The Butterfly Club, which is home to an impressive collection of kitsch, hosts 1200 performances of 200 productions every year, many of them new works, according to its website.
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It first opened its doors in 1999, with the venue changing hands on three separate occasions. Originally located in South Melbourne, in 2012 The Butterfly Club announced plans to relocate into Melbourne’s CBD, subsequently reopening its doors in Carson Place – where it has remained to this day – in February 2013.
The Club’s upstairs proscenium arch theatre seats 76 people; the smaller downstairs space seats 48, with both spaces being in high demand during festivals such as Midsumma and the Melbourne International Comedy Festival.
As things stand, this Saturday night’s presentation of Butt Hole, The Butterfly Club’s ‘flagship cabaret riot’ featuring a rotating cast – including MC Six Inches Uncut, Annalise Knight, Mike McLeish and Peter Baecker this weekend – will be the venue’s last production for the foreseeable future.
