Dramatic Extract – Monologue Competition: What It Is, Where It’s Run and How It’s Judged

A single performer delivers one extract from a play alone, entered by school grade and judged on how convincingly the character is brought to life within a strict time limit.

Dramatic Extract – Monologue is the solo class of a dramatic extracts section: one performer takes a passage from a play and performs it alone as a single character. The word “extract” matters. The entrant is not performing a whole play or inventing a piece, but lifting a self-contained scene or speech out of a longer text and making it work on its own in front of an adjudicator.

On the template that carries this class the entry is grouped by school grade rather than by age directly: Grade 3-4, Grade 5-7 and Grade 8 to Open. The time limit rises with each band, from 3 minutes for the youngest entrants to 5 minutes for the middle band and 6 minutes for Grade 8 and above. A performer therefore competes against others of a similar school stage, and an older entrant has room to sustain a longer, more developed speech.

An entry is one named performer, one extract and one grade class. It sits beside two sibling classes in the same section, a dialogue for a pair and a group scene for three or more actors, which run as separate items. The monologue is the only one of the three scored as an individual entry, so it is where a single actor’s voice, focus and stage presence are judged with nothing to hide behind.

Organisers value the class because it is cheap to run and quick to judge: one performer, one slot, one panel. It also gives schools and drama teachers a straightforward way to enter pupils at the stage that suits them, while the grade bands keep a Grade 4 entrant from being marked against a school leaver. The data we build from does not say whether the extract must be memorised or whether the choice is open, so check the syllabus you are following before you commit to a piece.

Where Dramatic Extract – Monologue is run

In eTalenter’s data this class is carried by one template, a speech and drama section from a bilingual Afrikaans and English eisteddfod in the Western Cape, South Africa, so that is the only place we can honestly point to. Solo dramatic classes of this kind are common at competitive speech and drama festivals in several countries under names such as Dramatic Monologue and Acting Monologue; the catalogue keeps those as separate pages because their age bands and time limits differ.

• South Africa (Western Cape eisteddfod speech and drama section)

Key facts

• Solo entry: one performer, one character, one extract from a play.
• Entered by school grade: Grade 3-4, Grade 5-7 and Grade 8 to Open, with the Grade 8 band open to any older entrant.
• Time limits on the template: 3 minutes for Grade 3-4, 5 minutes for Grade 5-7 and 6 minutes for Grade 8 to Open.
• Open to both genders; the entry is individual, unlike the dialogue and group scene classes in the same section, which are team entries.
• Marked as a single overall score on the 10-point judge scale the template uses; no per-criterion marks are printed, so none are assumed here.
• Idea starters, not rules: a character receiving bad news by telephone, a student pleading a case to a head teacher, a witness deciding whether to speak, a child explaining a broken promise.

On eTalenter, Dramatic Extract – Monologue 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, Dramatic Extract – Monologue is most often entered as an Individual competition, typically scored out of 10, commonly time-limited to 3–6 minutes where a limit is set.

What judges look at in Dramatic Extract – Monologue

What a Dramatic Extract – Monologue panel is actually weighing up, and where the marks are usually won or lost:

• Belief in the character: the performer commits to who the character is and what they want, so the audience accepts the situation without any sign of acting for show.
• Command of the extract: lines are secure, the cut makes sense as a stand-alone piece and the start and end feel intentional rather than chopped from a longer scene.
• Voice and diction: every word is audible and clear to the back of the room, with pace, volume and pause varied to carry the changes in mood.
• Use of the time limit: the piece fits inside the grade’s limit with a finish, not a rush, and a performer who runs well under or over loses the shape of the performance.
• Stage focus and physical control: stillness is chosen, movement is small and purposeful, and eyes and body show who the character is speaking to. This list is general advice, since the template prints no scoring table.

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

How to prepare for Dramatic Extract – Monologue

How entrants and their teachers usually get Dramatic Extract – Monologue right on the day:

• Read the whole play first, so you know who the character is addressing, what has just happened and what they want from the other person.
• Choose an extract whose character is close to your age and experience; an honest Grade 4 performance beats a strained attempt at an adult tragedy.
• Time the extract with a stopwatch against the limit for your grade (3, 5 or 6 minutes), then trim so there is a clean ending rather than a cut-off.
• Write two plain sentences: who am I talking to, and what do I need from them? Return to them at every rehearsal and let them drive the delivery.
• Mark the places where the mood turns and practise those moments, because a performance that stays at one level for the whole time feels flat.
• Rehearse in front of someone who has not seen the play and ask what they understood; if they missed the situation, the setting-up lines need work.
• On the day, introduce the title clearly if the syllabus asks for it, pause before the first line and hold the final moment before you leave.
• Teachers: check the grade class on the entry date in the syllabus rather than assuming the pupil’s current school year.

Frequently asked questions

Is Dramatic Extract – Monologue 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.

What is a dramatic extract?

It is a passage taken from a longer play, such as a single scene or speech, performed on its own. The performer has to make it understandable and satisfying without the rest of the play around it.

Is this the same as Dramatic Monologue or Acting Monologue?

They are close relatives, all one performer playing one character alone. This page covers the monologue class in a dramatic extracts section, graded by school grade, while the other pages use different age bands and limits, so eTalenter keeps them separate.

How long can my monologue be?

It depends on your grade class: 3 minutes for Grade 3-4, 5 minutes for Grade 5-7 and 6 minutes for Grade 8 to Open. Keep inside the limit and plan a proper ending.

Is it judged individually or as a team?

Individually. Only the monologue is a solo entry in this section; the dialogue is for a pair and the group scene is for three or more actors.

Do I have to learn the extract from memory?

The data we have does not say. Read the syllabus for the festival you are entering, because rules on memorisation and on whether the piece must be chosen from a set list vary between festivals.

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