My name is Charlie and I have been a member of CODA for only a few years but it has been a great addition to my life. In my normal life I work in the crazy world of recruitment and so it’s not far fetched to see how I love the world of entertainment.
I started singing when I was 13, training with a gospel singer before going into specialist musical theatre singing training alongside my studies at university. Upon leaving university I had achieved a Diploma from the National College of Music, Choral Scholarship and a Fellowship from The Three Counties School of Music but I was also dealing with my disability Hyper-Mobility Syndrome.
My Hyper-Mobility affects all of my joints except my spine and consequently I have had to rest my love for singing on many occasions, including through 3 jaw joint operations. However, this allowed my other passion to flourish, art. I specialise in illustrations and cartoons and have done two individual exhibitions in Croydon raising over £800 for local charities and my last exhibition this year, was opened by Croydon’s Mayor.
It is through my art that I have really been involved in CODA. Creating the cow puppet, props and painting the set for Into The Woods and being the Set Artist for The Elephant Man earlier this year. The Producers is the first time in 10 years that I’ll be in a musical and it is a real joy.
My dream roles would be Lady of the Lake from Spamalot, Elle Woods from Legally Blonde the Musical or Cinderella from Slipper and the Rose which is a musical from the 70s written by the Sherman brothers who wrote the music for Mary Poppins and I the Disney classics.