REVIEW: CODBA by Hetty Nelson at Etcetera Theatre 17 & 18 October 2023

‘A lot of heart, a lot of laughs, but needs refining’ ★★★

CODBA (Child of Deaf Blind Adult) is a hilarious, celebratory, autobiographical show exploring the relationship between a deaf blind mother and her children.

Running at around 40 minutes, Hetty Nelson’s one-woman show takes the audience on a journey through life with her deaf blind mother. In this, Nelson cleverly multi-roles herself, her mother, and other “side characters” - showing off her mother’s brilliant quirks and humbly bragging about her own similarities to them. Accompanied by a slideshow of photos (and their audio descriptions), Nelson begins at her birth and weaves through her childhood with amusing anecdotes of her mother’s parenting techniques and Nelson’s own reflections of that time. She efficiently uses Manual Sign Language to both bring awareness to the language and as a multi-rolling aid - often used to emphasise humour but never as the butt of the joke.

Nelson performs with an endearing confidence, eager to share her positivity with the audience: we feel warmly invited into her world, in all its brilliant chaos. This worked well in the face of some technical difficulties - highlighting Nelson as something of an MC, reinforcing her natural stage presence.

There were, at points, moments of confusion - with the rich flashbacks not always given enough stage time - and with this their corresponding props and side characters. Coupled with the lack of clear chronology, this meant that the joyful chaos of the piece felt on occasion to be unclear, rushed, perhaps under-rehearsed. There is obviously an abundance of stories for Nelson to play with: each as entertaining as the last - and if audience reception means anything it’s that she has the space to extend her anecdotes and bring more of them to the stage.

 

Overall, CODBA has a lot of heart, a lot of laughs, but needs refining. As with any modern tale, the story is ongoing - and the audience can’t wait to watch the next chapter.

CODBA (Child Of Deaf Blind Adult)

7th - 18th October, The Etcetera Theatre

Written and Performed by Hetty Nelson

Review by Anna Rastelli