This article demonstrates the value of rhetorical audience studies for analysing constructions of ‘the nation’ and national identity. A key strength of this approach is its recognition of the interplay between the rhetorical situation, the text of the speech, and the audience’s responses to that rhetoric. Using the historical method for investigating rhetoric and its reception, the article examines Theresa May’s efforts to bring the nation together after the 2016 referendum and to offer an inspiring vision of post-Brexit Britain. A textual analysis shows that her rhetoric of Britishness was constructed around an imagined audience of Leave voters, and thus excluded Remainers from her conceptions of Britain and ‘the British people’. The audience reception study supports this finding, as it reveals two competing myths of ‘the nation’ which in turn constituted rival subject positions. In short, May’s epideictic failed to unite the country behind her conception of a strong, cohesive Global Britain.

本文证明了修辞学受众研究对于分析“国家”和民族认同的建构的价值。这种方法的主要优势在于它能够识别出修辞情境，演讲文本和听众对修辞的反应之间的相互作用。本文使用历史性的方法来调查言论及其接受程度，考察了特蕾莎·梅（Theresa May）在2016年公投后将英国团结起来并为英国脱欧后的英国提供了令人鼓舞的愿景的努力。文本分析表明，她对英国的修辞是围绕假想的休假选民而建立的，因此将余下的人排除在她对英国和“英国人民”的观念之外。观众接待研究支持了这一发现，它揭示了两个关于“国家”的相互竞争的神话，这些神话又反过来构成了相互对立的主题地位。简而言之，梅的流行未能使她的国家团结起来，成为一个强大而有凝聚力的全球英国的构想。