Live Performance Review - YUMMY by ICONIC

Images courtesy of Starling Communications.

At several points throughout my time watching cabaret extravaganza YUMMY, I caught my face locked into a big smile. As someone who has major RBF at all times, this was truly a testament to the entertainment factor and overall joy imbued into every performance this show had to offer. For those unfamiliar, YUMMY, as the name suggests, is a show made up of a tantalisingly delicious blend of burlesque, dance, circus  - and most importantly, the bizarre - that is critically acclaimed and has over fifty festival appearances both here and internationally, under its belt. 

Each performer in the cast is allocated roughly two performances each, and delightfully, there is almost nothing that one performance shares in common with the next, except perhaps the fact that they’re all insanely engaging. From wacky sandwich dances and death defying circus acrobatics to performers stapling wads of cash to their flesh whilst wearing bejewelled lingerie, YUMMY keeps you breathlessly on your toes, and induces an alluring rush of anticipation and curiosity each time a new performance begins. 

As I was sitting there, in the expansive and iconic Meat Market, I was also marvelling at what I believe makes a show like this almost impossible to hate or even seriously critique; the fact that it is totally self-aware. There was an implicit understanding between audience and performer, that this show is strictly about fun and entertainment. No extensive thinking required. Camp, outrageousness, pastiche and reflexivity are the foundation of this show, and as such there is really no way you could truly hurt the feelings of a show like this (if shows had feelings of course). You think its stupid? That is kind of the point. You think it's ridiculous? Yes again, the performers are well aware of this, and in reality, would probably encourage this point of view. Ideas of entertainment are completely stripped down to the bare essentials, the silly and weird, the beautiful and the wild; all combine in genuine harmony to deliver a show that immediately draws you in, and then altogether wraps up much too quickly. 

YUMMY is the kind of show where you get the feeling that the energy and passion of this performance would remain at the exact same calibre if the room was filled with 10,000 people or just 12. The engine that is entirely driving this show is simply the desire to show off one’s most true self. It just so happens that this radical act of vulnerability is also set against an iconic Britney mega-mix. Run, don’t walk.

YUMMY by ICONIC runs June 22nd to 25th at Meat Market, 24 Blackwood Street North Melbourne. For more info and future shows, click here.