An individual stage item in which one competitor performs a dramatic part in Welsh, judged on how convincingly they become the character and hold the audience.
Acting, as a competition item, asks one performer to take a character and make an audience believe in it. There is no cast to lean on and no set to hide behind: the competitor has a voice, a body and a few minutes, and the panel watches whether the person on stage has stopped being themselves and started being someone else.
On the eTalenter Welsh festival template, Acting is an Individual item open to boys and girls together, and the language is fixed to Welsh. It is offered in all seven school-year bands: Year 2 and under, Years 3-4, 5-6, 7-9, 10-11, 12-13 and a 14-25 band. Competitors are grouped by school year rather than by an age range. It sits in the On Stage section next to recitation, solo singing and Group Drama, and it is a separate item from Group Drama because here the unit being judged is one actor, not an ensemble.
A round runs like any solo stage item. Each competitor is called in turn, walks on, sets the scene with posture, voice and a first line, performs the chosen piece and leaves before the next entrant. The panel marks as the performance happens. The festival’s published rules print no numeric scheme for this item, so the template’s 10-minute field and its rating are the app’s defaults; an organiser should replace them with whatever their own notice states. Prizes in the source are first, second and third in each competition.
Organisers keep a solo acting item because it is the quickest way to see who can carry a stage alone. It rewards imagination and nerve rather than polish alone, it gives children who are not natural singers or dancers a route into performance, and it feeds the group drama items by training actors who can listen, react and stay in character.
Where Acting is run
On the eTalenter templates Acting appears on one template, a Welsh-language youth arts festival in Wales, where it is part of the On Stage section. Solo acting competitions of many kinds exist in schools, drama clubs and festivals in most countries, but this page describes the item as it is set up on that Welsh template, so entrants elsewhere should check their own notice for the time limit, whether props or costume are allowed and whether the piece must be scripted.
- Wales
Key facts
- Individual item: one actor performs alone, with boys and girls competing in the same group
- Offered in all seven bands: Year 2 and under, Years 3-4, 5-6, 7-9, 10-11, 12-13 and 14-25
- Language fixed to Welsh on the template
- Judged on characterisation, voice and stage presence rather than on the quality of the script
- The 10-minute time field is the app’s default, because the published rules print no figure for this item
- The template scores it as a Rating out of 10; the source names first, second and third prizes and publishes no grade bands
On eTalenter, Acting is filed under On Stage and typically scored with Rating out of 10. 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, Acting is most often entered as an Individual competition, typically scored out of 100, commonly time-limited to around 10 minutes where a limit is set.
What judges look at in Acting
What a Acting panel is actually weighing up, and where the marks are usually won or lost:
- Characterisation: a clear, consistent person with wants, moods and a way of moving, rather than the competitor’s own voice reading lines
- Voice and Welsh delivery: audible, varied and well paced, with clear pronunciation so every line reaches the back of the room
- Physical presence: posture, gesture and use of the stage that suit the character, with no nervous fidgeting
- Emotional truth: feelings that grow from the situation and change as the scene moves, not a single mood held throughout
- Command of the piece: the lines known securely, with pauses used on purpose and no visible search for the next word
- Time and presentation: a clean entrance and exit and a performance that finishes within the limit
Treat these as the judging focus, not a fixed rubric: publish your own weighted criteria for Acting under Scoring Setup, or start from the full mono act judging criteria guide.
How to prepare for Acting
How entrants and their teachers usually get Acting right on the day:
- Choose a part that suits your age and your voice: a simple, believable character played with total commitment beats a grand role played without conviction
- Learn the lines until you no longer think about them, then rehearse the situation: who you are, who you are speaking to and what you want from them
- Work out the character’s walk, voice and habits separately, and decide how they change from the start of the piece to the end
- Mark the pauses and the moments of silence in your copy; a held pause often scores more than a rushed line
- Practise in Welsh aloud every day and record yourself, listening for words that blur and sentences that go flat
- Rehearse the entrance, the first line and the exit as carefully as the middle, because the panel forms its view in the opening seconds
- Perform for a small audience at least three times before the day, and ask them what they believed and where they stopped believing
- Time every run-through against the limit in your notice, and cut a line rather than rush the ending
Ready-made event templates that include Acting
Open any template to preview it in eTalenter and install it as a live, editable event.
| Template | Category | Score label | Competitions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Urdd Eisteddfod (Wales) | On Stage | Rating out of 10 | 7 |
Frequently asked questions
Is Acting 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 the difference between Acting and Group Drama?
Acting is an Individual item judged on one performer. Group Drama is a team item in which a cast is judged together, so direction and ensemble work count as well as individual acting.
Can I perform a piece I wrote myself?
The template does not say, because the published rules print no detail for this item. Check your own festival notice for whether the piece must come from a set list or may be your own.
How long can the performance be?
The 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 notice.
Which age groups can enter?
The template has seven bands grouped by school year: Year 2 and under, Years 3-4, 5-6, 7-9, 10-11, 12-13, and a 14-25 band. A competitor enters the band that fits them on the festival’s cut-off date.
Does the acting have to be in Welsh?
On this template the language is fixed to Welsh. If your festival allows other languages, set that in your own event notice and check its rules.
Want the full judging picture? Read the full mono act judging criteria guide, or browse every on stage competition item.
Try Acting in eTalenter
See every ready-made template that runs Acting, and install one as a live event — age groups, rules and scoring included.
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