Poetry and prose performance is a growing theatre form which Lit Up both examines and promotes. Annabel Turpin and Gavin Barlow explain.

“Spoken word in a way is a very new artform but… communicating to your community with your voice is also as old as time”. Baba Israel, artistic director of Contact Manchester, offered a historical context in his keynote speech at the Lit Up showcase and conference last September at the Albany, Deptford. The event was the second in a series of three, the final one taking place in a few weeks at Bristol Old Vic on February 16.

The Lit Up events explore the exciting potential of the artform, aiming to bring spoken word into established theatres and arts centres. “Spoken word” and “live literature” may be hard-to-define, somewhat slippery terms, but they represent a fast-growing body of work in the UK.

Live literature includes performances of poetry or prose-based work, often (but not always) performed by the writer. Live literature blurs the lines between theatre and other artforms but, as Antonia Byatt, the Arts Council’s director of literature strategy, said at the last Lit Up, “let’s not worry about defining it too much, it combines writing and performance, but trying to put it in a box is probably a mistake”.

Why then is it exciting as an artform and why should it be of interest to theatres and arts centres? For performer Stacy Makishi, “it is about your own personal breath, sharing stories that are very close to you.” At its best, it is very direct, even visceral, often political, and certainly very personal. It provides artists with a whole range of possibilities, and venues with opportunities to attract new audiences. In particular, it often has a strong appeal to young people as both audiences and performers. In some ways it is the essence of the communal live experience, creating a very intimate relationship between the performer and audience.

Whilst the hybrid nature of the form might bring problems of definition it also brings a real diversity and the almost limitless creative potential. Lit Up’s own commissions, which include new work from poet/musician Zena Edwards and a collaboration between novelist Jonathan Coe and musician Sean O’Hagan, illustrate how music from jazz and pop traditions, as well as folk and hip hop, are enriched by their meeting with spoken word.

Spoken word’s collision with theatre is also a rich area of possibility. Poet Inua Ellams’ first full-length show The 14th Tale was profiled at the Lit Up event in June, and after a successful autumn tour will find itself on the National Theatre’s stage for a short run this spring. Lit Up associate artist Polarbear will premiere his “spoken screenplay” Return at BAC in March, having previewed the work in development at each of the Lit Up events. Both are clearly spoken word performances, but can also be seen as boundary-pushing theatre productions.