Digital Spoken Word Theatre in the UK: Navigating the Theatre Screen with Rose Condo’s <i>The Geography of Me</i>

Abstract Spoken word theatre appeared on the scene of British poetry performance in the 1990 s. The art form privileges the (hyper-)visibility of the poet-performer where practitioners present their work in their customary style in a long form live show. In the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, several previously on-site shows moved to the domain of the digital. In this article, I explore four types of such virtual adaptations by women practitioners with emphasis on performance strategies and the politics of visibility. I then engage in an in-depth analysis of The Geography of Me by UK-based Canadian poet Rose Condo to study the salient features and discontents of digital spoken word theatre and Condo’s use of pre-recorded material. I also examine how this strategy negotiates the expectation of visibility of a gendered body in spoken word theatre. I argue that the use of pre-recorded material helps control the unpredictability of online performance conditions and mitigates the risks associated with performing traumatic narratives.