Books & Spoken Word
Hammer & Tongue ft. Robert Garnham & Imogen Downes
Monthly open poetry slam night hosted by Hammer & Tongue. This month’s headline acts are Robert Garnham and Imogen Downes.
Robert Garnham is one of Devon’s finest and funniest spoken word poets. A professor of whimsy, and consumer of biscuits; he is an absurdist with a pink feather boa and a serious social message. His work deals with LGBT issues and social representation and he has headlined at the top spoken word nights in the UK such as Bang Said the Gun in London, and Evidently in Manchester. He was one of the poets from the Halifax adverts and has performed at the Albert Hall in 2018, the Duplex in New York and the King Kong Klub in Berlin.
Imogen Downes is a writer and theatre maker from Bristol. She has worked with Rife Magazine, Bristol Old Vic and Cheltenham Literature Festival, and was named as one of the most influential young Bristolians of 2018 for her work in poetry. Whether humorous or cuttingly serious, Imogen’s work always aims to reveal something about the human condition; transcending everyday experiences to lay bare what it means to be human and to be treated inhumanely.
Slammers are chosen at random from the sign-up list to perform – spoken word only, no music, no props. Each competitor has 3 minutes from the time they start talking on the mic. After 10 seconds’ grace period, they start losing points (1 point for every 10 seconds!). At the end, they’re given points out of 10 by 5 judges chosen from the audience, while the top and bottom scores are removed to ensure fairness. The slammer gets a score out of 30, and the competition moves on.
The winner of that evening’s competition goes through to the Regional Final (the Bristol one is in June), and the winner (and runner-up) of the Regional Final goes through to the National Final. The winner of the National Final gets crowned H&T National Slam Champion.
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