On Thursday night I died and went to YUMMY. Well, only nearly perished – navigating downward inclines, uneven pavement, and the Fringe Festival gravel pit in very high heels – but YUMMY’s heavenly status was undeniable.
DECADENCE celebrates YUMMY’s tenth year of performing. What do you get for a tenth anniversary? Apparently tin, but I’m not sure the ensemble from opening night got that note with a show that was golden. The audience were presented with a collection of favourite acts from the last decade, with new numbers sprinkled throughout.
After a glitzy, scarlet overture by the ensemble, we’re treated to the first of many familiar wonders as Hannie Helsden walks on-stage dressed like I Dream of Jeannie and certainly doing magic with her hoola-hoops. Later, the space transforms into a raunchy strip club and Hannie returns, more sultry than saunter, with a marvellous demonstration of the art of pole as YUMMY dollars rain down on the crowd.
There’s many beautiful contrasting performances to be found in DECADENCE. Jandruze faux-teeters out, resplendent in black heels and harness with an innocent look and a carving knife, teaching us (including the luckiest of all audience members) how to make the ideal sandwich.
It’s a fun and riotous number, quite unlike their performance later with fire wands and fans. Jacinta Anderson’s lighting design here is stunning as blues, purples, shadows, and the light from the flames play across Jandruze’s captivating dance.
Speaking of holding the audience’s attention, Bendy Ben welcomes us onboard BendyAir, with pre-flight instructions that turn into an arresting display of burlesque that has no one looking away. We’re in a similar state of awe for the penultimate number as Ben returns with a wonderful alien-yet-so-intimate drag performance syncing to Paloma Faith’s, Only Love Can Hurt Like This.
Another piece of audience interaction becomes a highlight when Milo Hartill gets a fortunate soul up to serve as her mic stand for an utterly powerful, utterly hilarious rendition of Donna Summer’s cover of MacArthur Park. Also exuding power and glamour was Velma Vouloir, with every look, move, and lotus flower with feather fans from her burlesque intoxicating to watch.
The talent on-stage didn’t always remain on the ground as Jarred Dewey astonished in the air with his extraordinary trapeze. Cerulean’s tantalizing routine wove First Nations storytelling and ballroom culture into a performance that lifted from dance to mesmerism.
Against a backdrop of FKA Twigs, Soliana Ersie strode onto stage with an incredible contortion act that demonstrated her command of balance and transformation (even if some of those moments of transformation resembled something you might find in a cut scene from Silent Hill f (in a good way)).
And then there was Valerie Hex – MC, Magician (literally, about halfway through the show. Sleight-of-hand has rarely been so sexy), and director of YUMMY over these last ten years. Like every member of the cast, Valerie dazzled onstage, reminding us that a celebration of queer culture and art is as much an act of resistance as it is an entertainment.
One of the YUMMY’s strengths is how the line-up can change, yet the quality of the talent and performances never falters, and DECADENCE is as perfect an example of this as you could ever hope to find.
Funny, breathtaking, incendiary (I don’t think I’m allowed to write “hot as ****”), there are few acts that combine circus, burlesque, and dance into a cabaret so gloriously well, and even fewer shows as compulsory as this. Get to it while you have the chance!
DECADENCE: 10 Years of YUMMY
Meat Market – Cobblestone Pavilion, Blackwood Sreet, North Melbourne
Performance: Thursday 2 October 2025
Season continues to 18 October 2025
Information and Bookings: www.melbournefringe.com.au
Images: DECADENCE: 10 Years of YUMMY – photos by Georgia Moloney