It was with a degree of trepidation that I decided to attend and review Love Box: a Valentine’s edition of Word of Mouth at Bristol Old Vic, a monthly event introducing local theatregoers to the best of the nation’s spoken word performers. Terms such as ‘performance poetry’, and the use of the word ‘slam’ in a way which has no connection to the forceful shutting of a door possess an intimidating ambiguity for the uninitiated, and uninitiated I most certainly was.

In the casual intimacy of Bristol Old Vic’s basement space, however – greeted with an offer of gummy sweets and reassuringly surrounded by chains of paper hearts – any such worries soon evaporate. What emerges is a succession of acts who walk the tightrope somewhere between stand-up and theatre. Staged as a battle between ‘lovers’ and ‘cynics’, each of the poets and their material is to some extent defined by this from the outset, but it goes deeper than that; the two offerings from Jodi Ann Bickley rely almost entirely on her bashful, unassuming delivery to lend their hollow colloquialisms a level of sincerity, whilst Adam Kammerling mines a role-play in which he takes on the character of Love for every giggle it offers.

There is a strong sense of camaraderie amongst the performers which defies any true sense of competition; yet some do deserve honourable mentions. Byron Vincent compères the evening with an indispensable combination of enthusiasm and weariness (to be fair, he confessed to having two broken ribs after a showdown with an obstinate loudspeaker), as well as contributing a brilliantly acerbic ode to those spiteful couples who happen to be both young and attractive as well as in love.

In an astoundingly lyrical origins tale, Rachel Rose Reid delivers perhaps the most memorable line of the evening: making the attempts of wordsmiths and artisans to explain this thing we call love comparable to “a rope bridge trying to explain a chasm”, whilst the wryly rambling ruminations of home-grown Anna Freeman also prove to be great crowd-pleasers. Even works-in-progress from Ben Mellor and Vanessa Kisuule impress, despite their early, sometimes unfocusedly sprawling, forms.

The prevailing trend for theatre as spectacle never ceases to bombard us with vivid and arresting stage images. But it is evenings like this – be they in basements, beer-halls or bedsits – that remind us of the endless virtuosity of language; of “imagery!”, as the extravagantly-moustachioed Jonny Fluffypunk might say, interrupting his own loquacious recollection of the teenage sexual awakening that occurred as his wiry, pubescent leg hairs strained erotically against his mother’s nylon tights.

Word of Mouth presents an evening of performance poetry each month at Bristol Old Vic, as well as at other venues around the city. For more information, visit http://citychameleon.co.uk/wordofmouth/