Creating COVID-safe audience participation on stage

How does an artform that’s reliant on intimacy and audience participation adapt to COVID-safe protocols?
A gender diverse group of cabaret artists.

James Welsby, the founder and Artistic Director of cabaret-burleseque troupe YUMMY, is reflecting on some of the once-traditional aspects of their shows that will no longer be possible because of COVID-19.

Given how heavily the troupe’s previous shows relied on audience participation, Welsby said he and his fellow artists are still working out how to stage the new production in a way which keeps both artists and audience members safe.

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Richard Watts OAM is ArtsHub's former National Performing Arts Editor; he also presents the weekly program SmartArts on Three Triple R FM. Richard is a life member of the Melbourne Queer Film Festival, a Melbourne Fringe Festival Living Legend, and was awarded the 2019 Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards' Facilitator's Prize in early 2020. He received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Green Room Awards Association in 2021, and a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in June 2024. Photo: Fiona Hamilton. Follow Richard on Bluesky @richardthewatts.bsky.social and Instagram @richard.l.watts