A scripted stage play performed by a group, judged on acting, direction and overall stagecraft.
Group Drama is a staged play, or a self-contained scene from one, performed by a cast and judged as a whole. Where a solo acting item asks whether one person can convince an audience, this item asks whether several people can build a believable world together: who listens, who reacts, who gives way to a partner’s line and who carries the story when it is their turn.
A round is short and tightly timed. The team walks on, sets up with whatever the rules allow, performs the piece and clears the stage so the next team can begin. The panel marks as the play runs, watching the individual actors but also the direction behind them: the grouping on stage, the pace, the way scenes begin and end and whether the story is clear to someone who has never seen the script.
On the eTalenter Welsh youth festival template, Group Drama is a Team item open to boys and girls together, in Welsh, in all seven school-year bands from Year 2 and under up to a 14-25 band. It carries a 10-minute field and is scored as a Rating out of 10. The festival’s published rules print no numeric scheme for the item, so those figures are the app’s defaults and an organiser should replace them with whatever their own notice states. The same item also appears on two English drama festival templates, where it sits in the Action section and is marked in plain marks.
Organisers run a group drama item because it develops what solo items cannot: teamwork, timing, projection across a cast and the discipline of rehearsing together. It is also often the most popular spectator item of a festival, since families come to watch a cast rather than a single child, and it gives non-singers and non-dancers a place on the programme.
Where Group Drama is run
On the eTalenter templates Group Drama appears on three: a Welsh-language youth arts festival in Wales (On Stage section, seven school-year bands) and two English performing arts festival drama sections (Action category, scored in marks). Group drama classes are a standard feature of school drama festivals, youth theatre competitions and community arts festivals in many countries, but this page describes the item as it is set up on those templates, so entrants elsewhere should check their own notice for the time limit, cast size and what staging is permitted.
- Wales
- England
Key facts
- Team item: a cast is judged together, with boys and girls entering the same group on the Welsh template
- The Welsh template offers seven bands by school year, from Year 2 and under to a 14-25 band
- Language is fixed to Welsh on the Welsh template
- The Welsh template uses a 10-minute field and a Rating out of 10, both app defaults because the published rules print no figure
- On the two English templates the same item is part of a six-class drama section scored in marks
- Judged on acting, direction and overall stagecraft, not on how famous or long the script is
On eTalenter, Group Drama is filed under Action, On Stage and typically scored with Marks, Rating out of 10. It appears in 3 ready-made event templates — each one can adjust its time limit, age-group assignment and scoring setup independently.
Across the templates that use it, Group Drama is most often entered as an Team competition, typically scored out of 10, commonly time-limited to 5–16 minutes where a limit is set.
What judges look at in Group Drama
What a Group Drama panel is actually weighing up, and where the marks are usually won or lost:
- Ensemble acting: every cast member in character throughout, listening and reacting even when they have no line
- Clarity of story: a beginning, a turning point and an ending that an audience new to the piece can follow
- Direction and grouping: sensible use of the stage, clean entrances and exits and pictures that change with the action
- Voice and diction: every line audible from the back of the room, with the language spoken clearly and at a natural pace
- Pace and timing: cues picked up promptly, no dead gaps between speeches and a finish inside the limit
- Stagecraft: simple props, costume and set-up that serve the play rather than slow it down
Treat these as the judging focus, not a fixed rubric: publish your own weighted criteria for Group Drama under Scoring Setup, or start from the full drama & skit judging criteria guide.
How to prepare for Group Drama
How entrants and their teachers usually get Group Drama right on the day:
- Choose a script that fits the size and age of your cast; a modest play done with total commitment beats an ambitious one that falls apart
- Give every actor a real job in the piece, so no one is standing as scenery and the whole group has something to play
- Read the script aloud as a group first and agree what each scene is about before blocking any movement
- Mark entrances, exits and group positions on a plan and rehearse them until they are automatic
- Run lines in pairs and then in full scenes, and practise picking up cues with no pause
- Rehearse the set-up and clear-down against a stopwatch, because time spent arranging props counts against you
- Perform for a small audience at least twice before the day and ask them what they could not follow
- Cut a speech rather than rush the ending if a full run-through goes over the time limit
Ready-made event templates that include Group Drama
Open any template to preview it in eTalenter and install it as a live, editable event.
| Template | Category | Score label | Competitions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Croydon Performing Arts Festival – Drama | Action | Marks | 6 |
| Devon Performing Arts Festival – Drama | Action | Marks | 6 |
| Urdd Eisteddfod (Wales) | On Stage | Rating out of 10 | 7 |
Frequently asked questions
Is Group Drama 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.
What is the difference between Group Drama and Acting?
Acting is an Individual item judged on one performer. Group Drama is a Team item in which a cast is marked together, so direction and ensemble work count as well as each actor.
How long can a group drama be?
The Welsh template carries a 10-minute field, but that is the app’s default rather than a printed figure. Replace it with the limit in your own festival notice.
Is Group Drama judged individually or as a team?
As a team. The panel gives one result for the cast, though it will notice a weak link or a standout performer when forming that view.
Does the play have to be in Welsh?
On the Welsh template the language is fixed to Welsh. If your festival allows other languages, set that in your own event notice and check its rules.
Which age groups can enter?
The Welsh template has seven bands grouped by school year, from Year 2 and under to a 14-25 band. The English templates define their own classes, so follow the notice for your event.
Want the full judging picture? Read the full drama & skit judging criteria guide, or browse every action competition item.
Try Group Drama in eTalenter
See every ready-made template that runs Group Drama, and install one as a live event — age groups, rules and scoring included.
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