Acting of a Poem Competition: What It Is, Where It’s Run and How It’s Judged

A solo class in which the speaker performs a poem as a small piece of theatre, using voice, face and movement to bring its story or mood to life.

Acting of a poem is a solo class in which a poem is not simply recited but played. The speaker still delivers the words, but adds expression of the face, a shaped use of the body and a sense of character or situation, so that the audience sees the poem as well as hears it.

A round is short. The speaker is called, takes position in the performing space and performs within the age-band time limit while the adjudicator watches and listens. The performance is solo and, as a speech class, is carried mainly by the voice, with movement and gesture serving the meaning of the poem rather than decorating it.

An entry is one poem, chosen to suit the speaker, and a plan for how to act it: who is speaking, to whom, where the mood changes, and which moments deserve a pause, a turn or a still gesture. Narrative and humorous poems tend to work well because they hand the speaker clear moments to act.

Organisers run the class to bridge plain verse speaking and drama. It lets younger speakers explore performance through a short text they can hold in memory, and it gives adjudicators a way to reward understanding of a poem that shows in the whole body, not only the voice.

Where Acting of a Poem is run

On the eTalenter templates this item is carried by one: a Sri Lankan speech and drama festival template, where it runs as an individual English class for four age bands, 3-6, 7-9, 10-14 and 15 and over. This page records only the template listed here.

• Sri Lanka

Key facts

• Individual entry, open to boys and girls together, performed in English
• Four age bands on the template: 3-6, 7-9, 10-14 and 15 and over
• Time limits of 1 minute 30 seconds for 3-6 and 7-9, 2 minutes for 10-14 and 3 minutes for 15 and over
• Marked out of 10 on the template, with time counted per speaker
• Sits in the Action group of the template, beside the other acting classes, rather than with the plain verse-speaking classes

On eTalenter, Acting of a Poem is filed under Action and typically scored with Marks. It appears in 1 ready-made event templates — each one can adjust its time limit, age-group assignment and scoring setup independently.

Across the templates that use it, Acting of a Poem is most often entered as an Individual competition, typically scored out of 10, commonly time-limited to 1–3 minutes where a limit is set.

What judges look at in Acting of a Poem

What a Acting of a Poem panel is actually weighing up, and where the marks are usually won or lost:

• Understanding of the poem: movement and expression that match what the words mean, not generic gestures
• Voice: clear words, varied pace and volume, and pauses placed where the sense turns
• Characterisation: a believable speaker or situation held from the first line to the last
• Use of body and face: purposeful gestures and stillness, avoiding constant fidgeting or over-large movement that hides the words
• Memory and security: a performance that flows without stalls, with a controlled start and a finished ending
• Time discipline: finishing within the age-band limit without rushing the last lines

Treat these as the judging focus, not a fixed rubric: publish your own weighted criteria for Acting of a Poem under Scoring Setup, or start from the full recitation & poetry judging criteria guide.

How to prepare for Acting of a Poem

How entrants and their teachers usually get Acting of a Poem right on the day:

• Choose a poem with something to act: a story, a character, a clear change of mood or a joke
• Write one sentence on who is speaking, to whom, and what they want, and keep that in mind through the performance
• Learn the words first, then add movement; the voice must stay clear while acting
• Mark the two or three moments that deserve a gesture or a pause and keep the rest simple
• Time a full run at performance pace against the age-band limit and trim movement before cutting words
• Practise the opening position and the final held pose so the start and finish look planned
• Rehearse in front of a listener who tells you which moves helped the meaning and which distracted

Frequently asked questions

Is Acting of a Poem judged individually or as a team?

Across eTalenter’s templates it’s most often run as an Individual entry, though an organiser can set either participation type when assigning the item to an age group.

Is Acting of a Poem the same as verse speaking?

No. Verse speaking is judged mainly on the voice. In acting of a poem the speaker also uses face and movement to bring the poem to life, so the performance is judged as a small piece of theatre.

Can I use props or costume?

Check the syllabus of the event you enter. The template records no props, so assume the poem is performed with voice and movement alone unless the rules say otherwise.

How long can I perform for?

On the Sri Lankan template the limit is 1 minute 30 seconds for the 3-6 and 7-9 bands, 2 minutes for 10-14 and 3 minutes for 15 and over.

Is it judged individually or as a team?

Individually. Each speaker performs alone and receives their own mark.

Want the full judging picture? Read the full recitation & poetry judging criteria guide, or browse every action competition item.