Shakespeare Scene Competition: What It Is, Where It’s Run and How It’s Judged

An entrant performs a short passage from a Shakespeare play, speaking the verse clearly and bringing the character and situation to life within a strict time limit.

A Shakespeare scene class asks a young performer to take a passage from one of the plays and perform it as a piece of live theatre. The language is four centuries old, so the first job is to understand it: who is speaking, what has just happened, what the character wants and why the words come out in verse. A performer who understands the line can make an audience understand it too, even when some of the vocabulary is unfamiliar.

A round is short and plain. The entrant is called in, usually names the play and the speaker, takes a moment to settle and then performs without scenery or a costume change. Because this entry is listed as an individual one on the template, the performer carries the passage alone, speaking to an imagined listener and letting the pauses, the breath and the stillness do much of the work. The adjudicator listens for clear verse-speaking and watches for a believable character rather than a recitation.

On paper an entry is an edited passage that fits the time limit and has a natural shape: a beginning, a turn of thought and an ending. Many entrants choose a speech or a section of a scene and cut it so that it stands on its own for someone who has not read the play. Learning it by heart is the normal expectation, which separates the class from the reading classes.

On the eTalenter template listed here Shakespeare Scene is an individual entry, open to boys and girls together, performed in English, with six age bands from 7 and under to 18 and under. The limit is 5 minutes for the four youngest bands and 6 minutes for the two oldest, and every round is marked out of 100. A separate item, Shakespeare Scene Duo, covers the team version of the class.

Where Shakespeare Scene is run

Shakespeare Scene appears on one eTalenter template, a British music, speech and drama eisteddfod, where it sits in the action classes beside Monologue, Dickens Scene and the duologue-style items. Speech and drama festivals in several countries run Shakespeare classes under other names, for example solo, monologue or play-excerpt classes, but this page records only the template listed here.

• United Kingdom

Key facts

• Individual entry, open to boys and girls together, performed in English
• Six age bands, from 7 and under up to 18 and under
• Time limit is 5 minutes for ages 7 to 13 and under and 6 minutes for 15 and 18 and under
• Every round is marked out of 100, with no judging criteria printed on the template
• Normally learned by heart and performed without props, scenery or a costume change
• The team version is the separate item Shakespeare Scene Duo, and a solo speech class is Monologue

On eTalenter, Shakespeare Scene 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, Shakespeare Scene is most often entered as an Individual competition, typically scored out of 100, commonly time-limited to 5–6 minutes where a limit is set.

What judges look at in Shakespeare Scene

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

• Understanding of the text: the performer knows what each line means, so the meaning reaches the audience even when the words are unfamiliar
• Verse-speaking: the rhythm of the line is respected without sounding sing-song, with clear diction and sensible breaks at the punctuation
• Characterisation: the speaker is a believable person with a clear attitude, want and relationship to the listener
• Voice and projection: every word is audible, with volume, pace and pitch varied to suit the mood
• Movement and stillness: gestures are small and motivated, and the performer is comfortable standing still
• Choice and shaping of the passage: it suits the performer’s age, fits the time limit and ends on a deliberate moment

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

How to prepare for Shakespeare Scene

How entrants and their teachers usually get Shakespeare Scene right on the day:

• Choose a passage you can explain in your own words; a speaker close to your age and experience usually works better than a grand king or queen
• Paraphrase every line in plain modern English before you learn it, then go back to the original and keep that meaning in mind as you speak
• Mark the punctuation and the places where a thought turns, and breathe at those points rather than at the end of each line
• Decide who you are speaking to, where you are and what you want to change, and write it down before you rehearse
• Time the passage aloud and cut it to the limit for your age band, ending on a strong line rather than running out of time
• Rehearse in front of a teacher or friend and ask which words they could not follow, then work on those lines slowly
• Practise the first ten seconds and the last ten seconds separately so you walk in settled and finish cleanly

Frequently asked questions

Is Shakespeare Scene 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 Shakespeare scene class in a speech and drama festival?

It is a class where an entrant performs a short passage from a Shakespeare play and is judged on verse-speaking, characterisation and control within a time limit.

How long is a Shakespeare scene in competition?

It depends on the event. On the British eisteddfod template listed here the limit is 5 minutes for ages 7 to 13 and under, and 6 minutes for 15 and 18 and under.

Is Shakespeare Scene the same as a Shakespeare monologue?

They are close, but they are separate catalogue items. On eTalenter the Shakespeare Scene listed here is an individual entry, while the Duo version is a team entry, and your event’s own syllabus decides what counts as a scene.

Do I have to learn the passage by heart?

A Shakespeare scene is normally performed from memory, unlike a reading class. Check your event’s syllabus for any rule on scripts, props or costume.

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