Unkempt poetry is being spruced up, dramatised and given some flattering lighting. MIRIAM CRAIG explores the world of live literature.

For better or worse, the poetry world is changing. The bumbling, tatty figure of the poet rifling through papers and apologising before he or she has even begun reading is becoming a thing of the past. Under the influence of PR officers at book and poetry festivals, more attention is being paid to presentation, clarity and accessibility.

Listeners at poetry readings may well appreciate the fact that opportunities to cringe are dwindling. For others, the idea of a poet adding ornamentation to the words on the page contradicts too starkly with their ideal of poetic unpretentiousness, or they may be uncomfortable with the underlying financial drive behind the new trend - publishers' desire to sell books.

London Poet Greta Stoddart, who won the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize in 2002 for her first collection of poems, At Home in the Dark, says: "Poets go on tour more often now, so are expected to be better at reading their own work. Many poets now memorise their poems, so you could say poetry's going back to its roots. There's also sometimes a bit of pressure to be witty and you think, my god, I've come to a stand-up comedy event."

Stoddart is one of three writers in Tilting the Mirror, a live literature event touring the country over the next five months. It weaves together poetry and prose with flourishes from the performing arts, including lighting, music, sets and stage direction.

Between readings by Stoddart and fellow poet Jean Sprackland, an actor will read installments of a short story by writer Ray Robinson. The story, called Cut, won the Phillip Good Memorial Prize in 2003 and tells of a couple trying to build a relationship in the face of illness, jealousy and uncertainty. The poems also reflect the overarching theme of love.

Stoddart, 41, trained as an actress and toured with Brouhaha, a Chaplin-like physical theatre troupe, for ten years before leaving to concentrate on her writing. In 2005 she was named one of the ten best contemporary women poets by writing magazine Mslexia and is now writer-in-residence at the University of Exeter.

For her, the tour will bring new life to works of old. She says: "Poems I wrote ten years ago that were intended to be utterly self-contained are going to be put into a completely different setting. It's quite a new experience for poetry to be brought into the theatre in that way.

"Usually at a poetry reading it's like someone standing up and reading a poem in your living room. This is very different. The audience will come in, the lights will go down, there will be a sense of entering a different world, one with characters in it, and with lighting, sound, a set and props. And by the end of the evening there will have been some sort of dramatic arc, rather than just the short emotional journey within each poem."

Julia Bird, who is producing the event, says: "Live literature has begun to be thought about, worked upon and developed in a way I find very exciting.

"The professionalism and high production values don't overrule chummy readings in the back rooms of pubs. And nothing takes away from the poems on the page - they are still all there. This is just another way."

It may be a niche art-form, but with funding behind it and a small number of hard-working devotees, perhaps live literature is starting to get its message across.

Tilting the Mirror is on at the Millfield Arts Centre, Silver Street, Edmonton, on October 1 and 2, at 8pm. Tickets cost £12 (concessions £10) and are available from the box office on 020 8807 6680.