Hayden's not Gobsmacked
Dental Institute exams officer running performance mentoring programme at the Science Gallery London MOUTHY season
Being “Gobsmacked” isn’t something Hayden Cohen experiences often. In fact it’s quite the opposite. The Dental Institute Exams Officer is a performance poet and will be sharing his vast experience with budding performers in the Gobsmacked Programme, part of the current Science Gallery season MOUTHY. The free workshop will see Hayden mentor up-and-coming artists and help them improve their poetry and performance skills.
Hayden has been performing most of his life. He has taken three one-man-shows to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, including “Age of the Geek” in 2012, which was named Pick of the Fringe by Shortlist Magazine. He submitted the Gobsmacked programme idea to the Science Gallery in hopes of encouraging and guiding a new wave of artists.
Hayden explains: “I originally pitched for the workshops and the performance poetry competition as I saw the link between mouths and poetry. Whilst I’m also a singer, guitarist and comedian, something about poetry keeps drawing me back. This passion for words though began with rap. The first single I bought was Gangsta’s Paradise and the way Coolio used words to describe his hard life really hit me. Since then I was hooked. Unfortunately growing up in suburban Yorkshire is a bit different to ghetto America so poetry it is… (Although hip hop remains a strong influence).”
“The idea of helping future dentists to get a better grip on words also excites me. The BDS course is such an academically intense course, that important soft skills such as how to get a patient on side can sometimes get lost in the deluge of other learning. These free workshops demonstrate how best to craft language and deliver their words to get a desired response.”
After completing the workshops, performers can enter the Gobsmacked competition for a chance to win a cash prize at the Poetry Performance Competition, to be held on October 27. And here’s the twist; there will be a science weighting with judges awarding extra marks for accurate depictions relating to anything oral. That’s something to sink your teeth into!
“Whilst I feel part of something important with my day job helping with the veracity of exams, Science Gallery London has given me the opportunity to showcase my other skills. Whether you’re into dentistry or poetry, we’re all in the business of working with big mouths,” Hayden concludes.
Science Gallery London connects art, science and health to drive innovation in the heart of the city. Their new free-to-visit space will open in London Bridge next to King’s College London’s Guy’s Campus in 2018. The Gobsmacked event is part of their pre-opening MOUTHY season which runs from July to November 2016.
If you’re interested in taking part in the free workshop or competition, register online here and Hayden will guide you through a series of exercises that will leave you less gobsmacked and more performance ready!