The lead actress in a musical dogged by sexual misconduct allegations used foul language to shock her castmates, talked about her genitals and pulled down her male co-star’s pants while touching him in a way suggestive, says a theater company.
Oldfield Entertainment, which masterminded the troubled production of The Rocky Horror Show in 2014, made allegations about Christie Whelan Browne in documents filed in Federal Court as the company responded to the star’s lawsuit against them against.
Along with three other women involved in the production, Ms Whelan Browne accused co-star Craig McLachlan of assault, indecent assault and unwanted advances leading to a 2020 trial in the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court where he was found not guilty.
In documents responding to a lawsuit alleging they failed to provide a safe working environment, Old Entertainment alleged that Ms. Whelan Browne was a “willing participant” in sexually suggestive behavior with Mr. McLachlan.
Christie Whelan Browne (pictured left) starred with Craig McLachlan (pictured right) in the ill-fated 2014 production of The Rocky Horror Show.
This included “pushing fingers up or pinching between the buttocks,” pulling down his pants “when he least suspected it” and discussing his genitals with him, according to the statement.
The company also claims Whelan Browne gave McLachlan wedges, used a towel to poke him in the groin or buttocks and engaged in mutual crude jokes.
It is also claimed that she invented derogatory names for her co-stars, including “talentless c***” and “trash c***” and often vowed to “break female stereotypes”.
A row over a dressing room led Ms Whelan Browne to insult another cast member, calling her “trash breath”, according to court documents filed this week, according to the Daily Telegraph.
The absence of Ms Whelan Browne from a number of performances in Melbourne due to a back injury led to a “distancing” of the “camaraderie and relationships” between her and other cast members, said Oldfield Entertainment.
The star made “critical remarks about the understudies who took on the role of Janet” and also derided a male actor’s performance saying he wasn’t doing his job very well.
In defending Ms Whelan Browne’s allegations, Oldfield Entertainment said she was an experienced actress and theater union representative who made no complaints during the show’s run, either to Mr McLachlan or the company .
Mr McLachlan was accused of making unwanted sexual advances during the “Janet bed scene” during the play.
Whelan Browne (pictured) alleges theater company Oldfield Entertainment failed to provide a safe working environment when staging The Rocky Horror Show in 2014
However, the theater company argued that these scenes were “performed in the course of work which the applicant and Mr McLachlan had agreed to do under their employment contracts and in accordance with the director’s advice”.
In her statement, Ms Whelan Browne claims she repeatedly went to staff involved in the production to complain about Mr McLachlan’s alleged conduct and had no support.
According to Federal Court documents filed against Oldfield Entertainment, Ms Whelan Browne is asking the court to award her $1.5 million in damages and an additional $500,000 in aggravated damages.
Ms Whelan Browne is also seeking an order for Oldfield Entertainment, run by producer John Frost, to apologize and for the court to declare the company contravened sex discrimination law.
Lawyers for Oldfield Entertainment have asked the court to throw out the statement of claim in its entirety and are seeking costs.
The theater company rejects the claim that “a reasonable observer would expect that the allegations of sexualized comments… would be likely to offend, humiliate or intimidate the applicant.”
It states that “the nature of the production, including costumes, characters, dialogue and actions, was highly sexualized.”
The company also claims that acting methods required actors to “put themselves in character,” which meant “sexualized behaviors and conversations took place off-stage.”
Ms Whelan Browne went to the media in 2018 with allegations of sexual harassment and indecent assault, among other allegations, perpetrated against her and other female co-stars by Mr McLachlan during the Australian tour of the series in 2014.
In a statement posted on social media in September last year when she launched Federal Court proceedings against the theater company, the musical theater star said Oldfield’s behavior towards her constituted a sexual discrimination and unlawful discrimination.
“Today I filed an application in the Federal Court of Australia against Oldfield… alleging that there was unlawful discrimination against me under the law. Sex Discrimination Law subjecting myself to gender discrimination, repeated sexual harassment from another cast member, and victimization when I reported against him,” she said.
“My complaint relates to my experiences when I was employed as a lead actor on the Rocky Horror Show in 2014 and then Oldfield’s response to my complaints from 2017 to date.”
Ms Whelan Browne had previously lodged a complaint against the company with the Australian Human Rights Commission, which ruled in February that the matter “could not be resolved through conciliation”.
A person cannot file a complaint of unlawful discrimination in Federal Court until the commission terminates the complaint.
“I filed this request today with fear and anxiety, but also with the certainty that this is something I have to do and that I will see it through to the end,” she said in the communicated.
“I know I deserved better treatment, that I deserved to feel safe and respected in my workplace.
“Other women in the arts deserve better, and I won’t accept anything less being ‘just the way it is’.”
Mr McLachlan has always denied the allegations. In 2018, he launched defamation lawsuits against several media outlets for their coverage of the allegations, which he suddenly dropped in 2022 before key witnesses took the stand.
Following this development in May 2022, Ms Whelan Browne criticized Oldfield on social media for “refusing to investigate our allegations and threatening to sue us for defamation”.
The star said her “sole intention” in going public with the allegations was to protect female performers during the show’s production in 2018.
Ms Whelan Browne said the experience left her and the other women “significantly traumatized” and she received “multiple threats and constant abuse”.
“I know I haven’t seen the end of it,” she said.
“I lost my sense of security in the world, knowing that someone wanted to hurt me so badly because I was telling the truth.
“It was the result of a simple attempt to protect other women from the same behavior.”
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