Entering the cage to the left of the staircase at Revolver Upstairs, eerie white cardboard silhouettes greet the audience from the walls. The characters of Yunyu’s Twisted Tales await their Melbourne stage debut.
Starting the evening’s entertainment with Sydney electro-funk trio Aleeoop, a talented trumpet player and jazzy keys provide the tunes to which the smooth vocalist encourages the audience to “twitch vigourously” in their seats.
Next is Amanaska of Buddha Bar fame, obviously well-known by quite a few members of the crowd judging by their warm reception. Playing amongst friends and seeming quite comfortable on stage surrounded by a smorgasbord of unusual instruments, the electro-world duo impressed everyone by their energy and talent on African percussion and the didgeridoo.
Yunyu’s show is completely different to the two acts which precede it. It begins with a loud American-style radio announcement and flashing lights, drawing the attention of the security guards from beyond the cage.
Band members squeeze onto the stage, all donned in red and black themed costume, before Yunyu appears in a Gothic doll-like corset and patent leather black boots, her long black hair in pigtails and her lips painted red.
Her first Twisted Tale is about Goldilocks, and she tells it with a theatricality that gives the impression of a witch casting a spell, wide-eyed and spidery-fingered. The trumpet player from Aleeoop makes an appearance beside his fellow band-members, one now acting as computer DJ and the other as an ominous figure in a long black trenchcoat, providing baritone vocals.
“Midnight, midnight, rock-a-bye pumpkin time” Yunyu sings, as she gives Cinderella a rock-cabaret twist. This little number is great entertainment and the singer starts to shed her nerves, though unfortunately Mr Trenchcoat is a big let-down and stands awkwardly as still as a statue.
In the break Yunyu philosophises about the true meaning of fairytales, stammering a little as she enigmatically theorises “a mortician is simply a taxidermist that specialises in humans.”
Dressed like a Harajuku goth, Yunyu’s style ranges from rock’n’roll to cabaret, electro to almost-world, incorporating a Celtic style of singing reminiscent of Dolores O’Riordan of The Cranberries whilst she interprets a tale by Edgar Allen Poe about a woman named Lenore.
The next song she admits was a result of a miscommunication, after having been commission by a sci-fi writer to pen a “Calling Song”. The ‘Culling Song’ is disturbing but Yunyu still manages to look adorable in a creepy kind of way.
Suddenly the audience finds themselves in a sultry jazz club setting as the vibraphonist and drummer show off their skills, and Yunyu pouts as she laments the chauvinism of modern fairytales, with female independence and ingenuity being transformed into helplessness.
A Russian-style interpretation of ‘Red Riding Hood’ has the heroine outsmarting the beastly man-wolf, followed by a Chinese-inspired tale called ‘Butterflies’ with Oriental percussion and vocal style to match.
Despite her obvious nerves, Yunyu is still clearly very keen to entertain, and her theatricality gives the show added value. With such an unusual performance, the audience seems torn in two – on one hand, the enthusiasm and potential of Yunyu herself is infectious and endearing, and they have to give her credit for such an ambitious project.
On the other hand, however, the awkward stage presence of her backing vocals and her beginner’s nerves make the show a little painful to watch at times. As one audience member is heard saying, “it’s probably more comfortable for everyone if I just close my eyes.” Still, considering this is her first project and given her sense of entertaining theatre, it will be interesting to see what Yunyu conjures for her next macabre cabaret.
– Alexandra Goodwin
