Speech! Speech! - University of Birmingham

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 project ‘Speech! Speech! Dramatising Rhetorical Citizenship’ 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.

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. Our research will eventually lead to The Public House, Dash Arts’ state-of-the-nation theatre production, inspired by the speeches and writing of our national participants and performed by some of our original participants alongside professional actors and musicians, and created by writer Jude Christian and director, Josephine Burton.

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.

Objectives

The overarching objective of the project is to contribute to enhancing public political engagement and improving the quality of democratic political culture by promoting the theory and practice of 'rhetorical citizenship'. This concept names a distinct way of thinking about people's democratic rights to hear, evaluate and take part in political argument.

In particular the project aims to reach potentially politically engaged but disenfranchised people. We will help them to develop skills of political speech and argument by bringing them together with professional speechwriters and stage performers, thus enhancing both public and professional understanding of rhetoric and citizenship. Across the project we will encourage and enable discussion and debate about political speech with wider communities and, through a key partnership with a theatre company, develop an enduring body of creative work and experience which will contribute to the growth of rhetorical citizenship, beyond the life of the project.

To achieve these aims the project will:

work with local arts, community and political organisations to provide training and creative experiences that enhance individuals' capacity to deliver political speech, argument and rhetoric;
in partnership with speechwriters and advocates for the arts of public speech, organise a 'festival' at which publics and practitioners can share knowledge and experiences, supporting and improving professionals' understanding of the importance of 'rhetorical citizenship' and helping them to adapt their practice accordingly;
through a major collaboration between academic researchers and theatre professionals, develop innovative ways of sharing research findings with public and professional stakeholders, explore how drama can help people develop public speaking skills and contribute to the development of future theatrical productions.

In order to achieve these overarching objectives the project also sets for itself the following particular objectives:

To hold a series of workshops, in different English cities and, working in collaboration with local voluntary, advocacy and arts groups, to train people in the writing and delivery of a powerful political speech.
To develop, test and subsequently disseminate 'best practice' for training people in speechwriting and delivery that can be used after the end of the project.
To stage a day-long 'Festival of Political Speech' consisting of a blend of panel talks, forum theatre, conversations, workshops and performances, attended by members of the public and by journalists, educators, politicians and national advocates of the arts of oracy.
To use the regional workshops and the performances they give rise to as a means of promoting (through the live encounter and through local media) discussion, critical reflection and public understanding of the arts of political speech and rhetoric.
To further promote and facilitate enhanced understanding (on the part of the public and of practitioners) on the role of rhetoric, good and bad, in our political culture today, through the documentation and public dissemination of all of the project activities, and especially through a short podcast series about individuals' experience of learning to create a powerful political speech.
To cement and implement a partnership between the project team, Dash Arts, and the European Speechwriters Network, that will last beyond the life of the project leading to further work supporting the improvement of our common capacity for rhetorical citizenship.
To enhance the Investigators' and the partners' capacity for translating research into forms that successfully communicate with stakeholders and communities, and to increase their ability to pursue further work promoting the arts of oracy to a range of communities.

People

Core project team

Dr Henriette van der Blom, PI of Speech! Speech!, Director of the Network for Oratory and Politics, and Reader in Ancient History (University of Birmingham).
Professor Alan Finlayson, Co-I of Speech! Speech!, founder and treasurer of the Political Studies Association specialist group on ‘Rhetoric, Discourse and Politics’, and Professor of Political and Social Theory (University of East Anglia).

Project partners

Dash Arts:
- Josephine Burton (Artistic Director and Chief Executive)
- Cristina Catalina (Producer)
European Speechwriter Network: Brian Jenner (Founder and Director)

Events

Speak Out!

The Speech! Speech! project culminates in a three-day festival in Manchester and London on 21, 22 and 23 November 2023. We are bringing together speechwriters, activists, academics, politicians, dramatists and the voices of our nation to explore speech-making’s ability to provoke, persuade and empower. Our panels will discuss the power of words and activism, and their ability to change people’s minds and lives.

Speakers include classicist and cultural historian Edith Hall, former speechwriters to David Cameron and Sir Tony Blair, Jessica Cunniffe and Philip Collins, artist and stand-up comedian Rinkoo Barpaga, MP for Norwich South Clive Lewis, poet and activist Shareefa Energy, and the Speech! Speech! team of academics Henriette van der Blom and Alan Finlayson alongside Dash Arts Artistic Director Josephine Burton.

Podcast series

Listen to our podcast series which takes us across England to hear what people want to change, how our speechwriting workshops have given people a voice, and why ancient rhetoric still works in our modern day.

Listen to the podcasts (or download from your favourite podcast provider. Just search for Dash Arts Our Public House).

Speech! Speech! speechwriting workshops

We have toured England and teamed up with local arts and volunteer community groups to deliver speechwriting workshops and empower people to articulate what they want to change. We have heard speeches on houses for the homeless, better mental health provision, rent control, understanding of the menopause, supporting women’s refuges, and stopping climate change.

Workshops

Underground Lights, Coventry
St Hilda’s East Community Centre, Tower Hamlets, London
Her Majesty’s Prison Styal, Manchester
Writer’s Bloc, Redruth, Cornwall
Citizens UK, Brighton
Monday Morning Lads, Sheffield
Manchester Deaf Centre
Theatre Royal Stratford East, London
Bicester and Banbury College, Oxfordshire
Mile Cross, Norwich

Coventry / Underground Lights, 3 May 2023

Speech! Speech! teamed up with Underground Lights Community Theatre to deliver a speechwriting workshop to their members. Underground Lights is a former Belgrade Springboard Company, run for and by adults experiencing social disadvantage, homelessness and/or mental health issues in Coventry, Warwickshire and the surrounding area. They run ‘Creative Café’ sessions, where people can try new performing arts activities and meet others in a low pressure and friendly setting. Speech! Speech! joined the Creative Café on 3 May 2023.

East London / St Hilda’s East Community Centre, 18 May 2023

On 18 May, Speech! Speech! came to St Hilda’s East Community Centre in East London to provide a speechwriting workshop to an all-female group of locals. St. Hilda’s East has been working for the local community of Tower Hamlets and beyond for over 130 years, welcoming people of all ages and backgrounds and offering advice services, youth projects, support for parents and pre-school children, work with older people, women’s projects and volunteering placements. Speech! Speech! joined their women’s social group on 18 May 2023.

We were impressed by the speech topics (mental health services, social care provision, rent, price of food, menopause) and the development from idea to delivered speech.

Manchester / HMP Styal, 28 June 2023

Speech! Speech! went to women’s prison HMP Styal to teach speechwriting skills to prison learners, facilitated by Novus, a social enterprise dedicated to improving lives and economic success through learning and skills, enabling offenders to build positive futures for themselves, their families and communities. Novus invited Speech! Speech! to deliver a day-long workshop with a group of learners who delivered well-argued and moving speeches on mental health provision, education, addiction, women’s refuges and prison food.