Speech! Speech! Dramatising Rhetorical Citizenship

Robust public debate and the freedom to make arguments and counterarguments are essential to democracy. Today, however, political dispute is ever more sectarian and angry, fears of misinformation are (justifiably) widespread and political discussion confined within groups of the like-minded talking to each other online. Against this background the proposed project develops and redeploys findings from AHRC-funded research into 'The Crisis of Rhetoric'. It centres on the concept of 'rhetorical citizenship', which names our common rights to hear and see political actors present their arguments directly to us, judge them for ourselves and, crucially, to take part in public debate and discussion with skills that match those of professional political actors. It follows that citizens need to:

a) be empowered to develop, write and deliver their own persuasive arguments
b) have knowledge of the techniques and styles of political speech and rhetoric, and of how to understand and assess them
c) be part of a political culture which takes political speech and debate seriously, and which creates occasions when speech and argument can be experienced directly and unmediated.

The project will cultivate skills in writing and delivering powerful speeches, as well as critical thinking about what makes for good and bad political rhetoric, enhancing shared rhetorical citizenship. It will further and deepen the dissemination of academic research to new communities, as part of developing and delivering training for members of the public in these rhetorical arts, by encouraging critically-minded celebration of the potential contribution of political speech and rhetorical citizenship to our democratic lives.

The project will achieve this primarily through a partnership between the academic project team and Dash Arts, an award-winning and internationally engaged theatre company specialising in creating unique live and digital events. Together we will develop theatrical practices and a body of original experimental performance work through which participants and audiences can develop their critical understanding and practical experience of political rhetoric and argument. Through workshops and public performances developed in partnership with local arts, community and political organisations in six English cities, we will train people in the arts of speechwriting and speechmaking and develop models for such training that outlast the life of the project. In addition, through partnership with the European Speechwriter Network (a professional association for speechwriters working in a range of public and private governmental, financial and charitable organisations) the project team and Dash Arts will engage practitioners in direct dialogue that will contribute to their practice, and to their writing of political speeches which engage and involve citizens.

We will promote wider public discussion and reflection on political speech and rhetoric through a 'Festival of Political Speech'. The culmination of the project, this will combine panel talks, forum theatre, conversations, workshops and performances. It will bring together members of the public, journalists, educators, politicians and national advocates of oracy. It will also showcase the skills of the diverse individuals who will have learned rhetoric/speechmaking at the city-based workshops.

We will also stimulate public discussion and reflection through documenting all of these activities, producing and disseminating an original podcast series following participants' journeys as they began, developed and delivered their speeches. We will promote public understanding through wider media outreach, in particular local media in the areas where the workshops are staged. At its close the project will have helped develop a body of theatrical work that can be further refined and staged, as well as models for community and popular education in an art crucial for the survival of our democracy.