‘Our Public House’ debuted at the Leeds Playhouse on 15 May 2026, kickstarting a run that will tour Prescot, Coventry, Sheffield and London from May to July. Written by Barney Norris and directed by Josephine Burton, ‘Our Public House’ uses the real words of over 700 people across Britain to craft a play about the state of the nation, community, connection and what might change if everyone had their say. At each leg of the tour, a local community ensemble will perform alongside the main cast, giving them an opportunity to highlight local issues they feel are most crucial to voice.
The verbatim elements of the play came from a series of workshops led by Professor Henriette van der Blom, Professor of Ancient History. Henriette, who specialises in Roman oratory, rhetoric and political life of the Roman Republic, delivered the workshop as part of her AHRC-funded project Speech! Speech! Dramatising Rhetorical Citizenship. Alongside Dash Arts and political theorist Alan Finlayson, Henriette travelled across the country to engage with underserved communities, teaching them how to write and deliver impactful political speeches.
Reflecting on the workshops, Professor van der Blom said: “We wanted to test whether anybody can be taught to prepare and deliver a powerful political speech – no matter their background – and we were proved right. We trained school students, pensioners, members of the deaf community, refugees, people suffering with mental health issues or homelessness, and women in jail.
“All had something to say, and all turned a personal view into a persuasive argument in a matter of a few hours. Now Dash Arts have incorporated the speeches and the participants into their play, taking the speech topics and even the workshop participants into the script and onto the stage.”
She continued: “We also wanted to know whether our political culture can improve through public speech training. Using the concept of ‘rhetorical citizenship’ - the rights and duties we all have to speak, make arguments, listen and try to understand each other – we wanted to give that opportunity to people who often feel they don’t have those rights. I can’t wait to see our workshop participants on the stage and see them perform among professional actors in this play about the state of the nation. Can you think of a more relevant moment to hear with people across the country think about politics?”
