AI and iambic pentameter: Making political speeches in the metaverse

Political speeches employ any number of rhetorical devices. But typically, politicians and their supporters address crowds using prose. While some memorable speeches in recent history have offered up rhythmic structures and snippets of carefully crafted verse, they are still a far cry from the iambic pentameter that Shakespeare used for the majority of Romeo and Juliet.

For the Folger’s production, Verona is recast as a fictionalized Washington, DC, a metaverse inspired by our real-world election cycle, which sees the conservative Lord Capulet running against the liberal Lady Montague. Audiences for the play will be greeted by campaign ads and footage from the metaverse’s national nominating conventions as they enter Folger Theatre. Campaign ads and the digital ephemera of the metaverse will be woven throughout the production as well.

Director Raymond O. Caldwell and his creative team pulled their source material for the campaign ads and convention speeches directly from speeches made at the Democratic and Republican National Conventions held this past summer. However, to fit the world of Shakespeare, the creative team reworked the source material into mostly blank verse (unrhyming iambic pentameter, or unrhyming poetic lines of 10 syllables with a specific pattern of stresses), creating a cadence for the speeches that aligns with each actor’s lines in the play.

For example, the snippet of the convention speech by Lady Montague was lifted from Vice President Kamala Harris’s convention speech. Here are a few sentences spoken by Vice President Harris:
“I want you to know: I promise to be a president for all Americans. You can always trust me to put country above party and self, to hold sacred Americaʼs fundamental principles, from the rule of law to free and fair elections to the peaceful transfer of power.”

Reset as blank verse, the lines become:
“I want to tell you this: I promise you,
I will be President for everyone.
Youʼll always know that country comes before
Myself or party, always held above.
Iʼll guard our nationʼs core, from laws to rights,
Free elections and peaceful powerʼs change.”

Similarly, the piece of the convention speech by Lord Capulet was taken from the address of former President Donald Trump at the Republican National Convention. Here are a few sentences from his speech:
“Our borders will be totally secure. Our economy will soar. We will return law and order to our streets, patriotism to our schools, and importantly, we will restore peace, stability and harmony all throughout the world.”

As blank verse, this became:
“Our borders will be guarded, safe, and sure.
Our economy will rise and thrive.
We will restore the law unto our streets,
Bring patriotism back into our schools,
And, most of all, we’ll bring back peace and calm
To every corner of the troubled world.”

Lady Capulet’s verse was derived from the speech made during the Republican National Convention by former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy. Minnesota Governor Tim Walz was the inspiration for Benvolio, and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’s speech provided the basis for the remarks by Paris. Meanwhile, Mercutio’s words were adapted from Oprah Winfrey.

This exacting writing exercise was enormously streamlined with the support of artificial intelligence (AI). As Caldwell puts it, “AI adds hands to a small team.” Assistant Director Savina Barini led the process of pulling speech segments and running them through an AI tool to refashion the political prose as specifically metered lines. The creative team then made final edits, changing words and making adjustments to create what feel like truly Shakespearean speeches.

Here’s an excerpt from Oprah Winfrey’s speech at the Democratic National Convention:
“I have actually traveled this country from the redwood forest, love those redwoods, to the Gulf Stream waters. Iʼve seen racism and sexism and income inequality and division. […] But more often than not, what Iʼve witnessed and experienced are human beings, both conservative and liberal, who may not agree with each other, but whoʼd still help you in a heartbeat if you were in trouble.”

The team used its AI-supported process to create these lines for Mercutio:
“Iʼve traveled through this country, far and wide,
From redwood forests to Gulf Stream watersʼ tide.
Iʼve seen the blight of racism and hate,
Of sexism and deep divides in fate.
Yet what Iʼve often found are those who care—
Good people, both from circles right and left,
Who, though they might not fully see alike,
Would help you in a heartbeat if you fell.”

The creative team for Romeo and Juliet also used AI to finish the ads that audiences will see on stage. The actors were each filmed in front of a green screen, and after carefully studying footage from each nominating convention and a host of political ads, Projection Designer Kelly Colburn constructed the backgrounds and crowd shots using AI.

The creative team also called upon AI to build the people you see in Romeo’s and Juliet’s social media feeds, including Rosaline—she is a completely AI-generated character.

It’s perfectly fitting for a metaverse.