A team drama item in which a cast performs a short play or scene together, marked as one group on acting, direction and stage presence.
Drama Group is a team item: a cast performs a short play, or a self-contained scene, and the panel marks the group as a whole. It is the ensemble counterpart of a character solo. Instead of asking whether one performer can hold a room, it asks whether several can share a stage, trade lines naturally and tell a story that makes sense to someone who has never read the script.
A round is tightly timed. The cast walks on, sets up with the props the rules allow, performs inside the time limit and clears the stage for the next group. The panel watches the individual actors, but also the choices behind them: how the cast is grouped, how scenes open and close, whether the pace holds and whether the ending lands. A strong entry looks rehearsed enough to feel spontaneous, with every cast member visibly in the story even when they have no line.
On the eTalenter Australian national drama template this item is set up from a published 2026 syllabus as a Team item for boys and girls together, in English. Groups enter in three bands: 13-14 years, 15-16 years and Open (17 and over). There is no group class for younger entrants, because the syllabus publishes none, so the item is left unassigned below age 13 rather than inventing one. The time limit grows with the band: 7 minutes, 8 minutes and 10 minutes.
Organisers run a group drama item because it develops what solo speaking cannot: teamwork, projection across a cast and the discipline of rehearsing together. It also gives schools and drama classes a way to enter several pupils in a single class, and it is usually among the best attended items for audiences, since families come to see a cast rather than one child.
Where Drama Group is run
On the eTalenter templates Drama Group appears on one: a national speech and drama eisteddfod held in Canberra, Australia, where it sits in the Action section beside a character solo item. Group drama classes are a common feature of eisteddfods, school drama festivals and youth theatre competitions in many countries, but this page describes the item as that template sets it up, so entrants elsewhere should check their own notice for time limits, cast size and what staging is permitted.
- Australia
Key facts
- Team item: one cast is marked together, boys and girls entering the same group
- Three bands on the template: 13-14 years, 15-16 years and Open (17 and over); no group class below 13
- Language is English on the template
- Time limits on the template rise with the band: 7, 8 and 10 minutes
- Marked on a 10-point judge scale in the app; the source describes its mark bands as 70+ participation, 80+ highly commended and 85+ for places
- Placings are First, Second and Third; the template installs them with no points so each organiser decides their own
On eTalenter, Drama Group 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, Drama Group is most often entered as an Team competition, typically scored out of 10, commonly time-limited to 7–10 minutes where a limit is set.
The scoring method the templates attach to this item, and what that scale means. The category this competition is filed under when a template is installed. Others in this category: Drama, Skit, Mime, Monoact, Mimicry, Stand-up Comedy, Role Play, Tableau eTalenter matches an item to its criteria on the words in its name, and creates exactly these when the template is installed.How it is scored
Where it sits
Judging criteria installed for it
What judges look at in Drama Group
What a Drama Group panel is actually weighing up, and where the marks are usually won or lost:
- Ensemble acting: every cast member in character from entrance to exit, listening and reacting even when silent
- Clarity of story: a beginning, a turning point and an ending that a first-time viewer can follow
- Direction and grouping: purposeful use of the stage, clean entrances and exits, and pictures that change with the action
- Voice and diction: every line audible at the back of the room and spoken at a natural pace
- Pace and timing: cues picked up without gaps, and a finish inside the band’s limit – the source prints no numeric rubric, so these are the points panels usually weigh
Treat these as the judging focus, not a fixed rubric: publish your own weighted criteria for Drama Group under Scoring Setup, or start from the full drama & skit judging criteria guide.
How to prepare for Drama Group
How entrants and their teachers usually get Drama Group right on the day:
- Pick a script sized to your cast and band; a modest scene played with full commitment beats an ambitious one that falls apart
- Give each actor a real job in the piece so nobody stands as scenery
- Read the script aloud together first and agree what each scene is about before fixing any movement
- Mark entrances, exits and group positions on a plan and rehearse until they are automatic
- Rehearse the set-up and clear-down against a stopwatch, because time spent arranging props uses up your limit
- Check your band’s time limit in your own notice before cutting; a trimmed speech is better than a rushed ending
- Perform for a small audience at least twice before the day and ask what they could not follow
Events that run this (1)
Ready-made templates that already include this competition. Installing one sets it up for you.
Frequently asked questions
Is Drama Group judged individually or as a team?
Across eTalenter’s templates it’s most often run as an Team entry, though an organiser can set either participation type when assigning the item to an age group.
Is Drama Group judged individually or as a team?
As a team. The panel gives one result for the cast, although a weak link or a standout performer will influence the overall view.
How long can a Drama Group performance be?
On the template the limit is 7 minutes for 13-14 years, 8 minutes for 15-16 years and 10 minutes for Open. These come from the published syllabus’s time column, so confirm against your own event notice.
Is there a Drama Group class for younger children?
Not on this template. The source syllabus publishes group classes only from 13-14 years upwards, so younger entrants are served by the character solo item instead.
What is the difference between Drama Group and a character solo?
A solo is one performer marked on one character. Drama Group is a cast marked together, so direction, timing and ensemble work count as well as each actor.
Similar competitions
Items whose names share a word with this one — usually the same discipline in another form.
Want the full judging picture? Read the full drama & skit judging criteria guide, or browse every action competition item.
Try Drama Group in eTalenter
See every ready-made template that runs Drama Group, and install one as a live event — age groups, rules and scoring included.
