CONGRESS to Bring Citizen Speeches to Melbourne Fringe at Argyle Square

Melburnians will take the stage at Argyle Square on Saturday 3 October to deliver the speech every politician gives on their first day in Parliament – except none of them are running for anything.  

CONGRESS is a large-scale civic performance created by All The Queens Men, presented in Argyle Square, Carlton, as part of Melbourne Fringe.  

Inspired by the tradition of a politician's inaugural address, CONGRESS invites everyday citizens to write and deliver their own "first speech" to the nation, imagining the future they want to see.  Each speaker is paired with a leading writer to shape a deeply personal address, staged with full choreography, music and movement in a public square. 

CONGRESS is civic storytelling on a grand scale: speeches that reveal the richness, complexity and diversity of contemporary Australia, performed among and for the people they're written for. 

Eight weeks out from Victorians going to the polls on 28 November, public debate feels more divided than ever. 

CONGRESS offers something rarer than argument: a room full of people actually listening to each other, proof that democracy is strengthened when citizens feel heard, respected and connected.

Following acclaimed presentations across Australia and internationally, CONGRESS returns to Melbourne as a landmark free public event, bringing together community participants from across the city with some of the country's most celebrated writers and an acclaimed creative team.

The Speakers at Congress Include: 

Uncle Charles Pakana – Australia's first full-time Treaty Correspondent, founder of Victorian Aboriginal News (paired with writer: Skye Cusack).

Geoffrey Lim – deaf-blind performing artist, ex-corporate banker, now Executive Director of Cypher Culture (paired with writer: Beau Windon). 

River Gammon – trans writer and Christian, working at a cathedral while studying theology (paired with writer: Willoh Weiland).

Tina Hosseini – human rights and dispute resolution specialist, former adviser to a federal MP (paired with writer: Maxine Beneba Clarke).

Anna Pidgeon – midwife, former firefighter, editor of the Pregnancy Uncut podcast (paired with writer: Fatima Measham).

Tony and Francesco Cattafi – Father and son migrant owners of La Spaghettata, one of Melbourne's oldest restaurants, established in 1981 (paired with writer: Roger Monk).

Nicolette Forte – musician, community-builder, permaculture gardener (paired with writer: CQ Quinan).