COMING HOME: Kody Mortimer, soon to be in the revival of Hairspray at the London Coliseum

Pocket Size Theatre and Liza Heinrichs (Captured by Liz) have teamed up again and created our new series 'Coming Home'. In this new piece, we look at the reopening of Theatres in London and around the country and celebrate our industry coming back. We got together some performers who will be some of the first to return to theatres and created this piece to bring some positivity to the theatre industry which has been through one of the toughest years in our lifetime. Whilst it is important to acknowledge the hardships we've all gone through, it's important we pull together as a community and celebrate our beloved industry finally coming back! 

Due to make his West End debut back in April 2020, Kody Mortimer was meant to be appearing in the London revival of Hairspray. But with the closures of theatres back in March, he didn’t make it to the stage of the London Coliseum and make his West End debut, however, he still will! 

Hairspray is due to open at the London Coliseum on the 21st June 2021, meaning Kody will finally make his West End debut in this fabulous show. Kody will be playing the role of Thad and appearing in the ensemble. A recent graduate from the Royal Academy of Music, he was in the new production of Gypsy at the Manchester Exchange and over lockdown was a part of the original concept album for the new musical, Black Widows. Kody tells us what it was like to work on his first original piece of work Black Widows: “it was great fun, I learnt new material no one had ever done before and got to record and it just felt amazing!” 

The Corona Diaries: Kody Mortimer

These recent times have been some of the hardest challenges we've faced and as a community, it hit us pretty hard. However during these difficult times, here at Pocket Size Theatre, we wanted to spread a little positivity and share some peoples experiences because we are all in this together. Each day we'll be speaking to our friends in the industry to share their experiences with you all so take a read and see how people are getting through these hard times.

Let's stick together, share the love and get through this as a community!

*Some information mentioned in this article may be out of date due to the progress of the current situation. Please keep that in mind when reading* 

Kody Mortimer is due to appear in the cast of Hairspray at the London Coliseum, playing the role of Thad and appearing in the ensemble. Previously he was in the cast of Gypsy at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester in the ensemble and playing Yonkers. 

On Monday 16th March 2020, The Society of London Theatre announced the closure of all Theatres in London. This followed suit with regional venues. Where were you when you found out and what was your initial reaction? 

I had just started my first day of rehearsals for Hairspray in the West End so it felt very bittersweet indeed. My initial reaction was confusion and disappointment, mainly because everyone in the cast gelled so quickly and we were having a great time. 

Can you tell us anything productive you’ve been doing? 

I’ve been at home exercising every day which is much more than I normally ever would when I’m back at home. I do this by using Instagram Livestream workouts or workouts with my friend who is a Personal Trainer. I’ve started doing Yoga, following ‘YogawithAdriene’ on YouTube. I’ve been involved in quite a few group singing videos and I have also been doing an online diploma course studying Sports Massage Therapy, which is a really nice and interesting change to what I normally get up to.