Personal | Jodee Mundy Collaborations
Personal is an auto biographical work written and performed by actor Jodee Mundy immersing us into her world of being born as a CODA, a ‘Child of Deaf Adults’ when her entire family (parents and siblings) are Deaf. She seamlessly takes us through a very visual journey of self determination and discovery to share her experiences with us of straddling two worlds as a person who hears and interprets for those that speak Auslan instead.
The show is built using physical building blocks as the foundation for projecting various characters and stories which have impacted her life. The use of animation and pre-recorded video is very cleverly done as well as the lighting and the way she uses sign language, captioning and spoken word for herself in first and third person. This is brilliant and I have not seen a show do this as well as hers in terms of access provision. The difference in this show, is that access is not a layer or a provision on top to ensure accessibility for audiences, but integral to the story itself.
Imagine being a child and getting lost in Kmart to comprehend the impact of what having Deaf parents means. Before this point, her life was full of love not knowing she was ‘different’ and the inevitable questioning and stigma from others which resulted in ignorance and unfair treatment towards her and her community – not that this show made you feel ashamed or angry for her. It unpacked these scenarios so beautifully and humorously – even her favourite teacher Miss Cohen and her awkward fact-finding interview asking, “How do your brothers get home from school?” … “They walk”. It sounds so simple to come to that conclusion but there are many straightforward quips delivered with a lightness leaving you with happy tears at the end.
Personal unpacks some of the historical elements behind D/Deaf culture – the use of teletext and shows such as Neighbours and Country Practice were captioned but not the news, or how her mother was institutionalised for being Deaf. Or how her parents never once told her to be quiet!
Please go see this show, it is five stars and is a deeply moving, funny and gripping performance by Jodee Mundy. Personal is such a heartfelt story of being a CODA and hands down deserves the awards it’s won as both excellence in theatre and educational in terms of advocacy for the d/Deaf experience.
Further information: There are 30,000 Deaf people in Australia with up to 3.6 million people who are hard of hearing, the small ‘d’ represents this aspect of the d/Deaf community and the big “D’ is for native Auslan speakers, hence why d/Deaf is written the way it is. Not all d/Deaf people speak Auslan as their first language or speak it at all. Many people use hearing aids and simple ways to make shows accessible are by using subtitles and interpreting. Many theatres now have hearing loops which amplify the sound spoken within the theatre to the hearing aids and you can book interpreters to work with you on providing Auslan.
