Theatre – Styled Competition: What It Is, Where It’s Run and How It’s Judged

The open theatre class of the folklore split, where a team takes folk themes, stories or customs and reshapes them freely into a stage piece of its own, scored out of 10 across seven age divisions.

Theatre – Styled is the freest of the three theatre classes. A team uses folk material as a starting point, such as a village tale, a seasonal custom or a set of traditional characters, and then builds its own piece from it: a new script, a modern setting, a mix of speech, song and movement, or a reworked ending. The source can be a hint rather than a copy.

On the template it is a team item offered in seven divisions: Mini Kids (4 to 6), Kids (7 to 9), Children (10 to 13), Junior (14 to 17), Adults, Senior (50 and over) and a Mixed Age division. It is open to both genders, Polish is the language setting, each team receives one score out of 10 as Marks, and results are ranked inside each division.

Teams perform one at a time. Because the class is open, a panel is mainly asking whether the piece works as theatre: is the idea clear, does it hold attention from start to finish, and does the cast play as one group? Where the piece draws on folk material, the panel will also look for a thread back to it, although how strong that thread must be is for the organiser to say.

Organisers include a styled class so that groups with a creative streak have somewhere to enter, and so that the authentic and processed classes can stay closer to tradition.

Where Theatre – Styled is run

On eTalenter this item is used in one template, an international folklore dance and music festival template based in Krakow, Poland, which offers each discipline in authentic, processed and styled forms. Freely reworked folk theatre appears in school, community and cultural festivals in many countries, but the line between styled and the other classes is drawn differently by each organiser, so the event notice is the final word.

• Poland (the festival the template is built from)

Key facts

• Team item on the template: each team is scored as a whole
• Seven divisions from Mini Kids (4-6) to Senior (50+), plus a Mixed Age division
• Open to both genders, scored out of 10 as Marks
• Language setting on the template is Polish
• No time limit is printed on the template, so the organiser’s notice sets the running time
• Third of three theatre classes: the open class after Theatre – Authentic and Theatre – Processed

On eTalenter, Theatre – Styled is filed under On Stage 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, Theatre – Styled is most often entered as an Team competition, typically scored out of 10.

What judges look at in Theatre – Styled

What a Theatre – Styled panel is actually weighing up, and where the marks are usually won or lost:

• Strength of the central idea: the audience can tell what the piece is about within the first minute
• Originality of the reworking, with new choices that are the team’s own rather than borrowed wholesale
• Pacing and shape: a beginning, a development and an ending, with no scene that drags
• Ensemble playing: entrances, cues and timing that show the team has rehearsed as one group
• Clear voices and confident movement that carry to the back of the room
• With one score out of 10 and no printed sub-criteria, the panel’s overall impression decides the result

Treat these as the judging focus, not a fixed rubric: publish your own weighted criteria for Theatre – Styled under Scoring Setup, or start from our judging and score tabulation guide.

How to prepare for Theatre – Styled

How entrants and their teachers usually get Theatre – Styled right on the day:

• Read the organiser’s notice for any time limit, set, music or content rules before you plan anything
• Pick one idea and state it in a sentence; if the team cannot, the audience will not follow it either
• Keep a visible link to the folk source, even a small one, in case the panel expects it
• Cut to the strongest scenes; a short piece played cleanly beats a long one that sags
• Mark positions and entrances so the stage is never left empty or crowded by accident
• Rehearse at performance volume in a space as large as the real stage, and time every run
• Keep costumes and props simple enough to change quickly during the piece
• Enter the right age division, since each is ranked separately
• After a loss, decide whether the idea or the delivery let the piece down and fix that one thing first
• Ideas, not rules: a traditional tale retold as a news broadcast, a folk custom set in a modern school, or a silent piece told through movement and a single sung refrain

Frequently asked questions

Is Theatre – Styled 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 Theatre – Styled and Theatre – Processed?

Processed adapts folk material while keeping it recognisable. Styled allows the team to reshape it further. The template does not print the exact line between them, so check the event notice.

Does a Theatre – Styled piece have to use folk material?

The template does not say how closely the piece must follow a folk source. The organiser’s notice should state what is expected.

Is Theatre – Styled judged individually or as a team?

On the template it is a team item, so the whole team receives one score out of 10 as Marks.

Can I use recorded music, lighting or a set in Theatre – Styled?

The template does not say. Whether these are allowed is for the organiser’s notice to state.

Want the full judging picture? Read our judging and score tabulation guide, or browse every on stage competition item.