The Butterfly Club – 2017 Curated Winter Program

Get cozy this winter at The Butterfly Club. Sophia Dickinson reports.

Melbourne’s prolific cabaret, comedy, theatre and burlesque venue has announced its curated winter program. June, July and August have something in store for every taste, with pun-titled cocktails to match. The kitsch surroundings are made all the more welcoming by bespoke cocktails for each show featuring local and international talent.

The Butterfly Club’s Artistic Director, Xander Wollard, has searched high and low to find the best independent performances on offer.

“Each year I see a truckload of shows and these shows that we have in the program are some of the gems that people may have missed or they are future gems that we're backing”.

“I like to think of it as putting together a beginners guide' to seeing independent theatre and cabaret in Melbourne,” says Wollard.

Season highlights include comedian Laura Davies’ show Cake in the rain. It’s is your chance to catch her acclaimed show from this year’s Melbourne International Comedy Festival – because no one ever sees as many shows as they plan to, right? In honour of the show, Venue and Bar Managers, Aillecks Matsoukas and Cal Gleeson, have created the closest thing to “Laura Davis on tap”. The Pour A Davis has Sloe gin, dry gin, Disaronno Amaretto, orgeat syrup, egg white and a cherry on top.

Perhaps Singaporean horror-comedy is your thing? Trio Shannan Lim, Jayde Harding and Tye Norman explore cultural identity in a unique way in Salty. Described as gaudy, racy and morbid mashed into three interconnected short plays. The Butterfly Club’s Tom Dickins says it’s one of his top picks for the season. The accompanying cocktail, The Singapore THING!!, was inspired by the show as well as the John Carpenter 1982 horror classic, THE THING. It’s Stolen white rum, Luxardo, Chartreuse, Cointreau, lemon, pineapple, orange bitters and a dash of charcoal.

Harry Potter fans can get their fix too. Completely Improvised Potter is the closest thing to the Harry Potter musical Melbournians can get at the moment. Matsoukas and Gleeson are obviously HP fans themselves, describing the Wingarnished Leviosa cocktail as follows, “According to the 5 principal exceptions to Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration neither food nor cocktails can be conjured into existence. However it is possible to summon them from another place if you know roughly where it is.”

“I'd be foolish not to mention how proud we are to be hosting Roulston & Young as part of this program – they arecabaret legends from the UK. They are astonishingly talented,” adds Dickins. Their show, Songs for Lovers (and Other Idiots) is a musical farce about the realities of love.

Dickins says it’s the perfect season to get to know the venue, which also boasts being the home of the Melbourne Cabaret Fringe festival.

“Winter is an excellent time to visit The Butterfly Club – it’s cozy, full of smells of mulled wine and delicious warming cocktails, and an opportunity to see a range of shows by artists about to head over to Edinburgh Fringe, or who have just finished sold-out runs around the Australian Fringe festival circuit.”

Images (from top): Songs for Lovers (and Other Idiots), Salty and Cake in the rain.