David Wiles is Emeritus Professor of Drama at the University of Exeter. He has written and edited many books, including Greek Theatre Performance (2000), Theatre and Citizenship (2011), The Players' Advice to Hamlet (2020) and The Cambridge Companion to Theatre History (2013), all published by Cambridge University Press.

'This fascinating re-reading of political thought and practice questions our political values through the observation of democratic behaviour. Historical debates become performance events. Refreshingly, Wiles interprets the democratic process through a combined exploration of intellectual argument and the theatrical mode of political delivery.' Vicki Ann Cremona, Professor in Theatre Studies, University of Malta

• 1. Introduction: democracy as performance; 2. Rhetoric in Athenian democracy; 3. Acting versus sincerity: Aeschines v. Demosthenes; 4. Puritan democracy: the English Revolution; 5. Oratory in the French revolutionary; 6. American democracy: from the founders to feminism; 7. Democracy as a universal good: Gandhi, Tagore and the new India; 8. Theatrocracy: back to Athens.

David Wiles is Emeritus Professor of Drama at the University of Exeter. He has written and edited many books, including Greek Theatre Performance (2000), Theatre and Citizenship (2011), The Players' Advice to Hamlet (2020) and The Cambridge Companion to Theatre History (2013), all published by Cambridge University Press.

'This fascinating re-reading of political thought and practice questions our political values through the observation of democratic behaviour. Historical debates become performance events. Refreshingly, Wiles interprets the democratic process through a combined exploration of intellectual argument and the theatrical mode of political delivery.' Vicki Ann Cremona, Professor in Theatre Studies, University of Malta

• 1. Introduction: democracy as performance; 2. Rhetoric in Athenian democracy; 3. Acting versus sincerity: Aeschines v. Demosthenes; 4. Puritan democracy: the English Revolution; 5. Oratory in the French revolutionary; 6. American democracy: from the founders to feminism; 7. Democracy as a universal good: Gandhi, Tagore and the new India; 8. Theatrocracy: back to Athens.

David Wiles is Emeritus Professor of Drama at the University of Exeter. He has written and edited many books, including Greek Theatre Performance (2000), Theatre and Citizenship (2011), The Players' Advice to Hamlet (2020) and The Cambridge Companion to Theatre History (2013), all published by Cambridge University Press.

'This fascinating re-reading of political thought and practice questions our political values through the observation of democratic behaviour. Historical debates become performance events. Refreshingly, Wiles interprets the democratic process through a combined exploration of intellectual argument and the theatrical mode of political delivery.' Vicki Ann Cremona, Professor in Theatre Studies, University of Malta

• 1. Introduction: democracy as performance; 2. Rhetoric in Athenian democracy; 3. Acting versus sincerity: Aeschines v. Demosthenes; 4. Puritan democracy: the English Revolution; 5. Oratory in the French revolutionary; 6. American democracy: from the founders to feminism; 7. Democracy as a universal good: Gandhi, Tagore and the new India; 8. Theatrocracy: back to Athens.