Melbourne Fringe will not use the Butterfly Club as a festival venue this year, after complaints alleging verbally abusive, intimidating and threatening behaviour made against its owner by two artists were found to be substantiated in an investigation conducted by the festival.
Since the club opened in 1999, it has been renowned as a home for new and alternative performers, making it a popular Fringe venue. The club, where the likes of Tim Minchin, Sammy J and Eddie Perfect started out, estimates that it hosts about 1,200 performances each year.
Its current owner, Simone Pulga, took over in late 2010. Guardian Australia understands a number of complaints were made to Fringe about Pulga’s behaviour in the past year, although the investigation focused only on allegations made by two Fringe performers. It found that claims Pulga verbally abused, intimidated and behaved threateningly towards the two performers were substantiated.
“Melbourne Fringe works to ensure a culture of safe and respectful workplaces and we have a zero tolerance policy to any breaches of our codes of conduct of participating in our Festival,” the festival said.
“We have received complaints relating to alleged incidents at The Butterfly Club and have undertaken an internal investigation into this matter. The Butterfly Club has not been registered as a participating venue in the 2024 Melbourne Fringe festival.”
Guardian Australia spoke to six people who had either performed or worked at the club. All highlighted the Butterfly Club’s value, but said they felt there were too few workplace protections for artists and that Pulga’s position meant they had nowhere to turn if they had complaints about him.
One witness to an alleged incident reported to the investigation, who asked not to be named, said no one wanted to see the club go under. “It is a really great venue and there aren’t that many venues left like it. Fringe artists, by their nature, often have less experience and are less professionalised and that seems like what the Butterfly Club wants to be supporting. But if they are not going to do that, what’s the point?”
Bradley Storer, one performer who lodged a complaint with the Fringe, said he had performed at the club for about 14 years.
“I haven’t seen this kind of behaviour from Simone before,” he said.
He said he went to the Fringe with the complaint “because [Pulga] was the owner – I couldn’t report it to anyone else”.
Another performer who made a complaint, Julian Stickland, said: “I wanted to help any artists that felt like [coming forward] was a difficult thing for them to do.”
Both gave an account of what they allege happened, which Guardian Australia independently confirmed matches what they told the Fringe investigation.
In response Pulga said the Butterfly Club cooperated fully with the investigation, and acknowledged its findings “did identify opportunities for uplift in relation to our workplace practices”.
“We understand the importance of and strive to ensure a safe, inclusive and respectful workplace for the arts and support artists,” he said.
‘It felt very aggressive’
Stickland took part in a week of Fringe shows at the Butterfly Club in October. He and two other members of his team have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, which he said he told Pulga early on as he wanted Pulga to understand that he can struggle with time management and unclear instructions.
“Simone assured us that the club aimed to be an inclusive place … he said that the club was very relaxed,” Stickland said.
Stickland said the show’s technician arrived slightly late to the venue for the Wednesday and Friday shows. Stickland alleges that on the Friday Pulga walked up to him and began to shout and swear, saying, “What the hell is happening? Where the fuck is this guy?” and accused them both of lying about his whereabouts.
A witness who was in the room corroborated Stickland’s account.
“He was really irate, he had this real manic look on his face. To me, it felt very aggressive … I was feeling very safe, and just suddenly lost that safety,” Stickland said. “I felt abandoned – really let down by somebody who had been so supportive by offering his space.”
Two weeks later, Stickland claims, he organised a Zoom meeting to clear the air with Pulga: “I assumed that he was stressed by the festival, or maybe he really thought that I wasn’t managing my team very well. At the very least, I’d be able to show him that I was professional and willing to take feedback.”
But Stickland alleges that when he raised the Friday incident on the call, Pulga started “screaming” over him. “I asked him if he thought it was appropriate to yell at me on the Friday and he said, ‘If I didn’t yell at you, I would have had to do something worse.’”
Stickland said that when he reminded Pulga his team had ADHD “he really softened … I think he ended the meeting much more happily than it had begun”. But Stickland said that he felt “shocked” and uneasy afterwards and immediately spoke to two people about what had happened. Both people said they remembered his reaction and his account of the call.
Storer alleges he was preparing for a show when he heard Pulga yelling in the next room. Storer alleges that a member of his troupe had approached Pulga to ask for a first aid kit for another performer, when Pulga shouted: “Darling, for the love of fucking God, I am not here for you – so unless he is bleeding out, I don’t want to know.”
“He was very agitated, very angry,” Storer claimed. “It came out of nowhere and escalated so quickly.
“I was incredibly angry, because it was so clearly inappropriate and unnecessary. Speaking that way to a performer in your venue is never OK.
Storer said he wouldn’t perform at the club again: “I wouldn’t put a team potentially in that kind of situation again, when they could be treated like that. It would be irresponsible of me.”
Pulga said it was “not appropriate” to respond to the Guardian’s detailed questions about Storer and Stickland’s allegations, saying only: “We do not believe they are a fair or accurate representation of all the matters they describe.”
Pulga said the club had been successfully partnering with the Fringe for many years. He said the Fringe was open to working with the venue again if it followed the recommendations resulting from the investigation, which included “strengthening the complaints process and implementing clearer policy documents”.
“We do work hard to accommodate artists with disabilities and there of course can be challenges on the night when we are under pressure managing audience and artists’ safety and scheduling requirements,” Pulga said.
“We regret that anyone would feel unsafe at the Club.”
Further allegations
Outside the Fringe investigation, several current and former Butterfly Club employees shared their own allegations about Pulga’s behaviour, while stressing the value of the club.
Nick Pages-Oliver, a former employee, said: “The Butterfly Club stands for independent artists, queer and diverse artists, people who might be marginalised. But no one is able to stand up to [Pulga]. There is no HR – he is the person that everyone has to go to.”
Pages-Oliver, who resigned in April, said he often felt “really stressed and frightened” at work and, at times, “genuinely scared to be in the room with [Pulga]”.
“There were shifts where I was fighting back tears … I was really struggling to hold it together,” he said.
“I’ve experienced first hand where he will be yelling at you or telling you off or swearing at you, saying you’ve done something remarkably stupid, but doing it while smiling … He speaks in a way that makes you feel stupid.”
One current employee, who asked not to be named, claimed that Pulga could be “extremely volatile”.
“I don’t care about losing my job now,” they said. “I care about the people I work with and for them to be too scared to even speak for their basic rights, it is shocking and appalling.”
Pages-Oliver and two current employees allege that during last year’s Fringe Pulga broke a glass on the bar in front of them, as he was angry that the air conditioner was on for “the third fucking night in a row”, and that he grabbed a staff member roughly by the arm afterwards. Pages-Oliver said he logged an incident report that night.
“He broke it in a fit of rage when he was coming to yell and swear at us,” Pages-Oliver said.
Pulga apologised to staff the next day in internal communications, seen by the Guardian, but denied breaking the glass out of anger, saying it was already broken and that he grabbed the employee to stop them hurting themselves.
Pages-Oliver has contacted the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance alleging his hours were cut below his contract’s minimum a month after he filed the incident report. The MEAA confirmed it was supporting his claims.
Pulga said: “We strongly deny the suggestion that the Club has taken any adverse action in relation to a former employee or that any of their hours were cut.”
