Cheltenham Festival – Acting — A Speech and Drama Acting Template With Solo Acting and Duologue Across Six Age Tiers

Speech & Drama · United Kingdom

The Cheltenham Festival of Performing Arts’ Speech & Drama Acting classes (100th Anniversary Festival): 2 real classes (Solo Acting, Duologue) across a real UK school-year age ladder, built from the festival’s own official 2026 syllabus.

Sets up an acting festival with two ready-made classes, Solo Acting and Duologue, on a UK school-year age ladder from Year 4 and under to Open, with set time limits and a mark-band judging scale from Merit to Outstanding.

This template sets up the acting section of a town speech and drama festival: a short programme in which pupils and adults perform a piece from memory or from a script before an adjudicator, and are placed and given a mark band. A coordinator opens an event that already carries the age ladder, the two classes, the time limits and the judging scale, instead of building them from a blank page. It suits a festival that wants entries, adjudicator sheets and results in one place.

There are two classes. Solo Acting is an individual class offered at six tiers: Year 4 and under (ages 4 to 9), Years 5 and 6 (10 to 11), Years 7 and 8 (12 to 13), Years 9 and 10 (14 to 15), Years 11 to 13 (16 to 18) and an Open tier for ages 19 and over. Duologue is a two-person team class offered at the five school-year tiers only, with no Open tier. The tiers follow the UK school-year ladder, converted to ages in the way the source festival does, with age reckoned as at 31 August in the year before the festival.

Time limits rise with age. Solo Acting runs to four minutes for Year 4 and under and Years 5 and 6, five minutes for Years 7 to 10, and six minutes for Years 11 to 13 and Open. Duologue runs to five minutes at the two youngest tiers, six minutes for Years 7 to 10 and seven minutes for Years 11 to 13. Entries are in English and open to both genders. Both classes are marked out of ten in this template, and the fee on every class is installed as zero so each organiser sets their own.

Judging uses four mark bands: Outstanding (90 and over), Honours (85 and over), Distinction (80 and over) and Merit (75 and over), with First, Second and Third placings. The source prints no points for these, so they are installed with zero points and the coordinator decides how, or whether, to count them. This template covers only the acting section: other speech and drama families such as verse speaking, mime, musical theatre and group work are not included, and an organiser who runs them adds them as further classes.

Where this event comes from

Adjudicated speech and drama classes grouped by school year are a long-standing feature of British competitive festivals, where a performer is given a written adjudication and a mark band rather than only a rank.

Where this event is run

Festivals of this kind run across the United Kingdom and in many Commonwealth countries, usually once a year in a town hall or theatre. The classes, tiers, time limits and mark bands here reproduce one published 2026 syllabus, so they are one working example rather than a universal standard. Organisers elsewhere can keep the structure and change the tiers, times and bands to match their own programme.

• United Kingdom

Key facts

• Two classes: Solo Acting (individual) and Duologue (two-person team), in English and open to both genders.
• Six age tiers for Solo Acting from Year 4 and under to Open (19 and over); Duologue has the five school-year tiers only.
• Time limits from four to six minutes for Solo Acting and from five to seven minutes for Duologue, rising with age.
• Mark bands Outstanding (90+), Honours (85+), Distinction (80+) and Merit (75+), with First, Second and Third placings.
• Marked out of ten in the template; fees are installed as zero for the organiser to set.
• Both classes have their own competition page on etalenter.com, so organisers can read what each involves before installing.

Age groups

6

Competition items

2

Competitions

11

Grade bands

0

Rank awards

0

Age groups

Every candidate is placed into one of these groups by age, and competitions are run per group.

Year 4 & Under

4From

–

9To

Candidates aged 4 to 9 compete in this group

Years 5 & 6

10From

–

11To

Candidates aged 10 to 11 compete in this group

Years 7 & 8

12From

–

13To

Candidates aged 12 to 13 compete in this group

Years 9 & 10

14From

–

15To

Candidates aged 14 to 15 compete in this group

Years 11 to 13

16From

–

18To

Candidates aged 16 to 18 compete in this group

Open (19+)

19From

–

120To

Candidates aged 19 to 120 compete in this group

Competition items

The events themselves — each with the category it belongs to and how judges score it.

Solo Acting

ActionMarks

Duologue

ActionMarks

Frequently asked questions

Can I change this template after installing it?

Yes — installing it creates a fully configured, live event, not a locked package. Every age group, competition item, rule and scoring setting can be edited afterwards to match exactly what your event actually needs.

Do I need technical knowledge to set this up?

No. Installing a template does the setup work for you; you only need to review the details (dates, unit or house names) and open registration.

Want the fuller picture first? See our guide to judge scoring and tabulation software.