Audition Piece Competition: What It Is, Where It’s Run and How It’s Judged

A solo dramatic performance of the entrant’s own choice, entered by school year and judged on how well one performer holds a short piece together on their own.

An Audition Piece is a solo dramatic performance chosen by the entrant. One performer stands alone, with no cast to lean on and almost no staging, and presents a short piece of acting from a play, a film script or a monologue they have found or written. The name comes from the way such pieces are used in real life: a short, self-contained turn of the sort a young actor might prepare for a drama school, a youth theatre or a school production.

In the English festival syllabus this item is built from, the class runs in three tiers by National Curriculum year: Years 1 to 6, Years 7 to 9 and Years 10 to 13. The age is taken as the school year of the performer on the day of the festival. Time limits rise with the tier, from three minutes for the youngest entries to four and then five minutes for the oldest, and the class is open to boys and girls together, in English.

On paper an entry is a single named performer, the title and author of the piece and the school year tier. On the day each performer is called in turn, introduces the piece, performs it and receives a mark within a published band together with spoken or written comments from the adjudicator. In eTalenter’s template the entry is individual, the time limit is applied per tier and the score runs on a nominal ten-point scale.

Organisers run it because it asks for a different skill from reciting verse. The performer has to choose a piece that shows range, take on a character with a clear want, and hold the room for a few minutes without props or a partner. For teachers it is a practical way to give every pupil, not only the confident ones, a short and well-defined acting task with a clear time limit.

Where Audition Piece is run

In eTalenter’s data Audition Piece appears on one template, the speech and drama section of an English music and drama festival in Kent. Solo dramatic and audition-style classes are common in competitive festivals across the United Kingdom, but class names, age bands and time limits differ from event to event, so read the syllabus of the festival you enter.

• United Kingdom – England (competitive festival speech and drama sections)

Key facts

• Individual entry, boys and girls together, performed in English.
• Three tiers by National Curriculum year in the source syllabus: Years 1 to 6, Years 7 to 9 and Years 10 to 13, using the performer’s school year on the day of the festival.
• Time limits rise with age: 3 minutes for Years 1 to 6, 4 minutes for Years 7 to 9 and 5 minutes for Years 10 to 13.
• The syllabus prints mark bands from Developing (65 and over) up to Exceptional (95 and over) instead of a points table; eTalenter scores on a nominal ten-point scale and installs no points for the bands.
• The source lists a small entry fee per performer that rises with the tier; eTalenter installs no fee, so an organiser sets their own.
• Idea starters, not rules: a short speech from a favourite play cut to the time limit, a monologue about a difficult first day, a scene where a character finally tells the truth.

On eTalenter, Audition Piece 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, Audition Piece is most often entered as an Individual competition, typically scored out of 10, commonly time-limited to 3–5 minutes where a limit is set.

What judges look at in Audition Piece

What a Audition Piece panel is actually weighing up, and where the marks are usually won or lost:

• Choice of piece: whether the material suits the performer’s age and voice and gives them something to do in the time, rather than a long speech they cannot fill.
• Character: a clear, believable person with something they want, kept consistent in voice, posture and attitude from the first line to the last.
• Voice and clarity: lines heard at the back of the room, with pace, pauses and emphasis that help a listener follow the thought.
• Shape of the piece: a clear opening, a point where something changes and an ending that lands inside the time limit.
• Stage presence and control: confident use of the space, eye line and stillness, without distracting movement or leaning on props.

Treat these as the judging focus, not a fixed rubric: publish your own weighted criteria for Audition Piece under Scoring Setup, or start from the full mono act judging criteria guide.

How to prepare for Audition Piece

How entrants and their teachers usually get Audition Piece right on the day:

• Choose a piece that is a good fit for your age tier rather than the most impressive one; a plain speech played honestly beats an ambitious one you cannot yet carry.
• Cut the piece to fit your tier’s time limit in rehearsal and time it out loud, since a performer who runs over may be stopped.
• Learn the words completely so that your attention can go to the character and the audience instead of the page.
• Decide what your character wants and who they are speaking to, and let that choice drive every change of pace or volume.
• Practise the first thirty seconds more than any other part, because a calm, clear start sets the room and settles your nerves.
• Rehearse in a room about the size of the festival hall, speaking to the back wall, then once more in front of a teacher or friends.
• After a placing that disappoints, read the adjudicator’s comments, change one thing at a time such as pace, ending or eye line, and try a different piece next time.

Frequently asked questions

Is Audition Piece 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.

Does an Audition Piece have to be from a play?

The source class asks for an own choice of solo dramatic performance, so a speech from a play, a script or a monologue you have found or written can all fit. Check your own event’s rules for what material is allowed.

How is an Audition Piece different from Verse Speaking?

Verse Speaking is about speaking a poem well, while an Audition Piece is acting: you play a character in a dramatic piece. In the same source syllabus the two classes use the same three age tiers but have separate entries and different time limits.

Is it the same as a dramatic solo or a mono act?

They are close relatives. All are single-performer acting classes, but each event names and judges its own class slightly differently, so eTalenter lists them as separate items; use whichever matches the syllabus you run.

How long can the piece be?

In the source syllabus the limit is 3 minutes for Years 1 to 6, 4 minutes for Years 7 to 9 and 5 minutes for Years 10 to 13. Other events set their own limits, so read the rules before cutting your piece.

Want the full judging picture? Read the full mono act judging criteria guide, or browse every action competition item.