Spoken Word in the UK

by Lucy English (Editor), Jack McGowan (Editor)

Overview

Spoken Word in the UK is a comprehensive and in-depth introduction to spoken word performance in the UK – its origins and development, its performers and audiences, and the vast array of different styles and characteristics that make it unique.

Drawing together a wide range of authors including scholars, critics, and practitioners, each chapter gives a new perspective on performance poetics. The six sections of the book cover the essential elements of understanding the form and discuss how this key aspect of contemporary performance can be analysed stylistically, how its development fits into the context of performance in the UK, the ways in which its performers reach and engage with their audiences, and its place in the education system. Each chapter is a case study of one key aspect, example, or context of spoken word performance, combining to make the most wide-ranging account of this form of performance currently available.

This is a crucial and ground-breaking companion for those studying or teaching spoken word performance, as well as scholars and researchers across the fields of theatre and performance studies, literary studies, and cultural studies.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780367352530
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	04/29/2021
Pages:	488
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.19(h) x (d)

About the Author

Lucy English is a reader in creative writing and head of the Creative Writing Research Centre at Bath Spa University, UK.

Jack McGowan is a senior lecturer in creative writing at the University of Worcester, UK.

Table of Contents

List of contributors x

Foreword Luke Kennard xii

Introduction: setting the stage: an introduction to spoken word in the UK Jack McGowan Lucy English 1

Section 1 Background to spoken word in the UK 15

1 Biting back against the Fascist Octopus: the story of Apples and Snakes Russell Thompson 17

2 Suffering fools: the survival and adaptation of British absurd, comic, and satirical traditions in the era of poetry slams Steve Larkin 27

3 Black Country, Ay We - voices from post-industrial Britain Emma Purshouse R. M. Francis 41

4 The New October Poets Adrian Johnson 51

5 Glasgow, Scotland and spoken word from 1986 to 2018 Jim Ferguson 63

6 A critical account of the development of spoken word events and settings in Wales in collaboration with partners in Sweden and Ireland Mel Perry Dominic Williams 75

7 The democracy of poetry: the Bristol spoken word scene Lucy English 88

Section 2 Audience and performer 107

8 The spoken word experience: affect transmission in contemporary performance poetry Jack McGowan 109

9 The limitations of the page/stage dichotomy: examining the page/stage divide Niall O'Sullivan 122

10 Exploring the relationship between audience and performer, the implications of the affective turn in reader-response and the emancipation of the passive spectator Scott Martingell 133

11 'Speak your truth': authenticity in UK spoken word poetry Katie Ailes 142

12 Audience as co-author: poet-audience relationship in performance poetry Lauren McNamara 154

13 Listen to me! The moral value of the poetry performance space Karen Simecek 166

14 Audience and performer responses to performing 1-2-1 and intimate poetry Debra Watson 178

Section 3 Cultural exchange 191

15 Poetic Orality in working-class culture 1840-1870 Simon Rennie 193

16 She Grrrowls: feminism in contemporary spoken word Carmina Masoliver 207

17 Playing for affect in counterpublics: an interdisciplinary investigation into the transformative potential of spoken word hybridity Katy Wareham Morris 221

18 The metic experience of the Black British Writer: challenging the margins Nick Makoha 235

19 Overthrowing societal norms through the spoken word: Benjamin Zephaniah's dub poetry in City Psalms Ian Hickey 246

20 The impact of Malika's Poetry Kitchen on the UK poetry scene Sundra Lawrence 260

Section 4 Styles and techniques 277

21 Fish out of water or creative chameleon? Spoken word as a form of social mobility Kate Fox 279

22 Style and technique in spoken word David Hubble 292

23 British, spoken word voice Hannah Silva 306

24 I thought I was just coming to watch: audience participation in spoken word performance Rose Condo 322

Section 5 Pedagogy of spoken word 335

25 How can developing an Overarching Pedagogical Metaphor defining my own poetics, aid my teaching of creative writing and 'Spoken Word Education'? Amy Neilson Smith 337

26 Spoken word education: the role of a spoken word educator: pitfalls and possibilities Sara Hirsch 351

27 Searching for consistency: applying Reflective Equilibrium to performance poetry criticism Ross McFarlane Bibi June Schwithal 363

28 Spoken word as therapy and power Jhilmil Breckenridge 375

29 Intersections between spoken word in the UK and US: a nexus in dialogue Helen Johnson Jacob Sam-La Rose 383

Section 6 Publicity and distribution 397

30 Speaking with machines and machines that speak: spoken word and digital performance poetry David Devanny 399

31 The capital of culture and the culture of capital: the controversy of commerce in spoken word Peter Bearder 411

32 Poetry slam in the UK Toby Campion 423

33 More show, less tell? How do we talk about spoken word now that it is working on a theatre stage? Sharon Clark Ruth Stacey 437

34 Spoken word in print: instant coffee: a conversation with Clive Birnie from Burning Eye Books Clive Birnie Lucy English 449

Index 456