It's Personal
Published on 24 July 2023
Jodee Mundy, OAM, is as an interdisciplinary artist and creative producer. She’s written and devised a genuinely original theatre piece that is deeply personal, yet resonates universally. Rather than calling it a play, Jodee refers to Personal as ‘a contemporary documentary performance’. It’s about growing up as a CODA (child of Deaf adult, a person who can hear, but has Deaf parents). Personal touches on themes of love, family, self-determination, coming of age, identity, community and belonging while shining a light on discrimination, ableism, equity and inclusion.
Jodee didn’t realise everyone in her family was Deaf until she was 5 years old. From then on, she acted as interpreter, authority and conduit between her family and the wider world. Jodee tells her story uniquely, using performance, storytelling, multimedia and animation - what she calls ‘access aesthetics’.
“I think documentary style performance is a potent mix of mediums. The ‘subject’ of the documentary is live on stage witnessing his/her own history in real time with the audience. The performer has creative control over how the audience views them,” she says.
This show is important. It gives a rare insight into what it’s like to live in a Deaf community.
“Growing up, I got used to non-disabled people’s fascination with my family. They assumed my experience was incredibly rare, but for, me it’s common. I am part of a global Deaf community,” she says.
One in six Australians have some hearing impairment. About 30,000 people are Auslan users with total hearing loss.
“Given there’s a lot of stereotyping, misconception and misrepresentation in the mainstream media, I wanted this story to be authentic, told by us, for us. My family and I have had full creative control over how we are perceived, represented and talked about,” she says. "Personal is a cathartic journey experienced personally and collectively with equity and truth. Everyone has access through Auslan, captions or English.”
Personal took seven years to develop. It’s still evolving. Jodee started out with drawings she did with some young CODAs in workshops. Then she went through her family archives. During artist residencies, she began developing the work and wrote the script in response to the material she’d collected. Jodee brought in a team of artists, both Deaf and hearing, to convey the layers of the project. Auslan, captioning and English accompany performance, projections and drawings.
In 2018, Personal premiered in Sydney. Then it went on a very successful Victorian regional tour. The show was also made into an ABC radio documentary.
In 2019, both show and radio documentary were nominated for Green Room, Helpmann and UK Whicker Awards (best writing, production, direction and visual design). Over the past two years, Jodee has been putting the show back together, adding new scenes, training a new team and hitting the road with Critical Stages Touring.
“We members of the Deaf community love to tell stories. Auslan, as a three-dimensional language, is a beautiful, expressive, wonderful language for storytelling,” she says.
This is the story of an average Australian family living in a world not designed for them. Through Jodee’s powerful performance, super eight film and VHS footage of her childhood, the audience will experience a hilarious, uplifting non-linear journey through her life.
“I play, joke, tell stories and sign. I also translate a hologram of me signing when I speak and speaking when I sign. I show the many faces of me – child, daughter, sister, interpreter and the rich multiplicity of lived experience. I don’t need to act. I’m enough being me and present,” she says. So true.
Personal will be performed at Cube 37 on Thursday, September 28, 7:30pm. Tickets are available here or call Box Office at 9784 1060.
Written by Andrea Louise Thomas.