Calling London-based singing doctors and scientists

Are you a singing scientist or healthcare professional? Have you always wanted to perform in a musical alongside West End pros?! Now is your chance!

We are looking for 16 singers to perform songs from The Mould that Changed the World musical as part of a flashmob in the Houses of Parliament, London on 20th February 2023. The performances will be in collaboration with WaterAid and the British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy who are supporting the publishing of the WASH and Antibiotics APPGs’ paper that day on WASH facility provision in LMICs to prevent antimicrobial resistance.

The Mould toured to Edinburgh Fringe and the US in 2022 with a chorus of scientists and healthcare professionals.

This is who we are looking for:

  • 16 scientists and healthcare professionals who can sing in easy parts
  • someone who can learn music quickly
  • someone who is comfortable moving, with very simple choreography

The commitment is:

  • learning music for 3 songs from tracks and music sent in advance
  • rehearsal in central London – 2-5pm, Sat 18 Feb 2023
  • rehearsal in central London – 10am-5pm, Sun 19 Feb 2023 (with West End principals)
  • flashmob and reception performances around Houses of Parliament – 10am-8pm, Mon 20 Feb 2023

To apply…

Please email jessica@charadestheatre.co.uk by 3rd February with an outline of what singing you have done in the past, your current job or place of study and a short video of you singing. The video can be of any song – a snippet of something you already know, accompanied or unaccompanied, shot on a smartphone or similar.

Unfortunately we are unable to provide travel or accommodation so this opportunity is ideal for people local to London.

The Mould sold out its run at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2018 and 2022.

For more information about The Mould, its message and its supporters, click here.

Chorus Insight: Professor Brian K Hammer

Originally published by Georgia Tech College of Sciences

Brian K Hammer in his office with an image from Alexander Fleming’s original 1928 penicillin agar plate. (Photo Renay San Miguel)

Professor Dusts Off High School Musical Skills for “The Mold That Changed the World”

A touring musical celebrating the man who gave us penicillin is inviting local scientists to join the chorus for its Atlanta shows — and School of Biological Sciences Associate Professor Brian Hammer is ready for showtime.

September 22, 2022 | Atlanta, GA

When he was 14 years old, Brian Hammer learned the hard way about the dangers of bacteria, and the wonders of penicillin, thanks to a wrestling bout with a sibling.

“My older brother thought it would be fun to wrestle me holding my dad’s fishing knife,” said Hammer, an associate professor in the School of Biological Sciences. What wasn’t fun: accidentally ending up with a stab wound in his leg.

The next day he couldn’t walk and had a high fever, thanks to a blood infection caused by Staphylococcus bacteria on his skin ending up in his wound. “Those bacteria can grow very quickly in your blood. And they should never be there,” Hammer said. Doctors gave him penicillin intravenously, and Hammer remained in a hospital for nearly a month before recovering.

Now, this November, Hammer — who performed in high school and college musicals and choruses — will get to sing the praises of Alexander Fleming, the Scottish scientist who indirectly healed him by discovering the antibacterial qualities of penicillin.

Hammer will be in the chorus at the Science Gallery at Pullman Yards Nov. 1-6, 2022 when the musical “The Mold That Changed The World” comes to Atlanta during its U.S. tour. It will be the second stop for the show, which has its stateside premiere in Washington, D.C.

Hammer, who is also a faculty member of Georgia Tech’s Center for Microbial Dynamics and Infection (CMDI), is getting a chance to dust off singing skills because the musical is giving local professionals in science and health-related industries a chance to join the chorus when the show comes to their city. Colleagues at the Centers for Disease Control, which is co-sponsoring the musical’s 2022 U.S. tour, have also successfully auditioned to sing in the Atlanta performances, as have other area scientists and researchers, along with an emergency medical technician and a veterinarian.

For Hammer, there are strong similarities in singing about science, and teaching it at Georgia Tech. “There’s a lot of entertainment in teaching, a lot of showmanship. It’s the way I got interested in microbiology, when the teacher was pretty charismatic and dynamic. So I’ve always wanted to be that kind of teacher.”

Singing for science education

“The Mold That Changed The World” doesn’t just focus on Fleming’s discovery. It also shows how Fleming overcame social obstacles to finding life-saving qualities in a “nasty mold,” as Hammer put it, and conveys in singing and music the dangers of relying too much on antibacterial drugs — an ongoing worry that has Hammer and several other CMDI researchers looking for new treatments.

“Fleming won the Nobel Prize for discovering the first antibiotic, penicillin, and even in his Nobel Prize speech, he predicted the dangers of the emergence of resistant microbes,” Hammer said. “He said then that he can imagine a scenario in the future where if someone doesn’t take their antibiotics correctly, you could end up with resistant ‘superbugs’ that get transferred to another person. And then you don’t have a treatment. He said that in 1945.”

Warning children about antimicrobial resistance (AMR) was the chief reason the Charades Theater Company in the United Kingdom staged “The Mold That Changed the World,” which was first performed for primary grades. The company thought it would be a fun and effective way to teach children ages 9-12 about the proper use of antibiotics. It was that educational aspect that attracted Hammer. 

“It’s one way of communicating science,” he said. “We scientists, we have to do a better job of communicating science, in all ways. That may mean different media, different settings. It’s just got to be part of what we do now. This is one unusual example of how to do that. But why not, right?”

The musical did prove effective. A 2020 UK study showed that students answered more questions about AMR correctly and retained more of the science information after seeing the musical.

Brian Hammer in high school musical productions: “Irene” (left) and a vintage photo from “Godspell.” (Photos courtesy Brian Hammer)

Researching cholera, and challenging stereotypes

As a teenager, Hammer sang in high school musical productions like “Godspell.” He then went to Boston College, where he joined the university chorale and got to sing for Pope John Paul II at St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican.

But Hammer was also busy earning his B.S. in biology. He went on to receive his M.S. in conservation biology and a Ph.D. in microbiology and immunology from the University of Michigan. He said his desire to sing was overcome by his desire to learn everything about microbes and how they impact ecosystems and biodiversity — and then what they can do to humans. 

In the Hammer Lab at Georgia Tech, he and his team study microbial interactions at scales that span genes and genomes, regulatory networks, cells, populations, and communities. His longtime focus has been on Vibrio cholerae, the waterborne pathogen that causes cholera

“It’s this combination of thinking about pathogens and their ecological environment,” Hammer explained. “It’s still fascinating to me how microbes can do all they need to do to live out there somewhere else, and then they can adapt to life in our bodies and wreak havoc. That single cells can do this still blows my mind, and how they do it, and what the consequences are. And cholera was the first ‘bug’ that I worked on that had this kind of dual lifestyle.”

Hammer was preparing for the Fall 2022 semester when his wife, Tracy, a fifth-grade teacher, said she would be taking her students to a children’s version of “The Mold That Changed The World” when the musical’s cast came to Atlanta. “She found out about it because some of the parents in her school work at the CDC,” he said. “She knew that I had done this (sung in musicals).” A visit to the musical’s website led him to audition for the special chorus.

Hammer said that his chance to perform on stage again isn’t just about educating audiences. It’s also about showing humanity in science, he added. 

“I think part of this is also to remind people that we scientists are just normal people too. I think there’s this misperception that scientists are elitists who don’t know how to interact with other people, or choose not to, or can’t. We’re not elitist, we just have an area that we think about a lot – just like everyone else has subjects that they think about, and have strong opinions about and expertise in. So we’re no different.”

“The Mold That Changed the World” runs Nov. 1-6 at Science Gallery@Pullman Yards,  225 Rogers St. NE, Atlanta, GA 30317.  Tickets go on sale soon and can be purchased here

Chorus Insight: Dr Ailis Orr

As our first Mould Chorus Insight, we hear from Dr Ailis Orr, a member of our 2018 and 2022 chorus in Edinburgh, who gives us an insight into what it’s like to be part of the Mould chorus…

Chorus insight: Dr Ailis Orr

The riot of misinformation throughout the pandemic on all social media platforms may have something positive to teach us – people respond to anecdotes and storytelling; they share and re-tell these stories and this knowledge can be harnessed to the benefit of science communication.

Dr Ailis Orr

To book tickets for upcoming shows, visit the Homepage.

Chorus Recruitment for D.C. & Atlanta Shows

Self-tape video audition deadline: Sunday 14th August 2022

The sell-out 2018 musical is back by popular demand and it’s bigger than ever. Originating at the world-renowned Edinburgh International Fringe Festival in Scotland, the show is touring to Atlanta and Washington DC, USA in the Fall of 2022.

We are looking for “scientists and healthcare professionals who sing” to audition for the chorus in each of these cities. The chorus will perform alongside a touring cast of London West End professional musical theatre actors. This truly unique and collaborative project is a once in a lifetime opportunity – don’t miss out!

DOWNLOAD WASHINGTON D.C. AUDITION PACK>> | DOWNLOAD ATLANTA AUDITION PACK>>

Stage Manager Recruitment

DEADLINE SUNDAY 19th at 1700

We are seeking an experienced Stage Manager, ideally with a Scottish base, for our musical theatre production (2018 Fringe sellout) returning to Fringe post-development and also running in Glasgow. It will then tour to Washington DC and Atlanta, USA, in the autumn. A 10-strong ensemble cast, 6-piece live band + local amateur chorus in each city visited. Recruitment pack available here.