Hammer and Tongue
This event on 8th February 2017 has past.
Open Mic Event
Contact: matt@artfulscribe.co.uk
Ushering in a new era for Spoken Word in Southampton, Hammer and Tongue are seeking local talent for a national stage with the first of a monthly series of poetry slams featuring headline artists, local support and contestants who sign up for a limited number of performance slots and the chance to represent Southampton at the National Finals in 2018.
A gavel of 5 judges, selected at random, hold contestants' fate in their hands as scorecards are held aloft and a winner is elected to go through to the regional finals in December.
Contestants have three minutes to impress the judges with verbal dexterity, wordsmithery and performance skills. No props. No music. No messing. Unless you write funny stuff. Then it's allowed.
And every month there's a feature headline act, a leading light of the Spoken Word scene, a tried and tested bona fide performer par excellence, elected by H&T governors to take audiences on an emotional journey to unexpected destinations that life reveals as the show goes on. META. Physical.
Each show features an extended set from a local poet too, providing a platform for new and familiar voices to share their words with a roomful of people. Because at the end of the day, that's what it's all about. Sharing creativity and shining a light on the world as the poet sees it. Seriously. Hilariously. Bizarrely. However it happens to be.
Described as 'the kind of performer you pray you'll discover', this month's headline act is the marvellous comic poet and former psychiatric nurse, Rob Gee, a first-class showman and audience favourite at The Art House.
Our support for the evening is 2016 Hammer and Tongue finalist, Damian O'Vitch, a poet whose work explores issues of contemporary society through the medium of shopping, cake and garden gnomes.
As it's the first show, Hammer and Tongue president Steve Larkin's also in the house with a word-storm of his own conjuring, ready to launch the good ship Hammer and Tongue Southampton and to bless all who sail their verse in her.
And of course, there's you, the wonderful person reading this now. Without you, the show can't go on, so please join us and help us kick the season off in style.
Contestants can sign up on the night from 7pm.
Entry: 7.50/5.00
Time: 7.30
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