Chichester Festival – Speech & Drama — A Festival Speech & Drama Section: Dramatic Solo and Dramatic Duologue Across Seven School-Year Age Groups

Speech & Drama · United Kingdom

The Chichester Festival for Music, Dance & Speech (West Sussex, England) Speech & Drama section, with real Dramatic Solo and Dramatic Duologue classes across a UK Academic-Year-based age ladder.

A ready-made speech and drama festival with two acting classes, Dramatic Solo for one performer and Dramatic Duologue for pairs, run across seven school-year age groups from Years 3-4 up to Year 13 and above, with time limits that grow from two to five minutes.

This template models the speech and drama section of a long-running music, dance and speech festival on the south coast of England, held over a weekend at the end of January. Children, teenagers and adults perform short scripted pieces before an adjudicator. It is built from the festival’s published 2027 section page, so the two classes, the school-year age ladder and the time limits are real, but dates, fees and entry conditions change every year and the current programme must be checked before the template is reused.

Two acting classes are modelled. Dramatic Solo is an individual class in which one performer plays a character from a scripted speech or scene. Dramatic Duologue is a pair class in which two performers share a scripted scene as one entry. Both are open to boys and girls and are performed in English. The festival also runs other speech and drama families, such as poem or own composition, choral speaking, public speaking, prose speaking, group drama and Shakespeare solo, but those are not part of this template.

Entrants are placed by academic year rather than by birthday. The source publishes five classes for each item, and the template turns them into seven finer groups: Years 3-4, Years 5-6, Years 7-8, Years 9-10, Year 11, Year 12 and Year 13 and above. Dramatic Solo time limits rise from two minutes for Years 3-4 to three minutes for Years 5-8 and four minutes from Year 9 upwards. Dramatic Duologue allows three minutes for Years 3-4, four minutes for Years 5-8 and five minutes from Year 9 upwards. The Duologue ladder ends at Year 12, so the oldest group has a Solo class only.

The source prints no points table, so every competition is scored out of 10 on a single mark and the template ships no criteria sheet, grades or ranks. Entry fees are set to zero so each organiser can add their own. Organisers should tell entrants beforehand how characterisation, interaction between the pair and clarity of delivery will be weighed.

Where this event comes from

The festival’s speech and drama section runs as one weekend event each winter, with the 2027 edition scheduled for the last weekend of January.

Where this event is run

Competitive speech and drama festivals are a long-standing tradition in the United Kingdom and in countries with a similar school-year system, including Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and parts of Canada. Local arts societies, schools and drama teachers run smaller versions of the same two-class format, with an adjudicator, a time limit by age and a single mark per performance.

• United Kingdom

Key facts

• Two competitions: Dramatic Solo (individual) and Dramatic Duologue (pairs)
• Seven groups by school year: Years 3-4, Years 5-6, Years 7-8, Years 9-10, Year 11, Year 12 and Year 13 and above
• Open to boys and girls, performed in English
• Dramatic Solo time limits: two minutes in Years 3-4, three in Years 5-8, four from Year 9 upwards
• Dramatic Duologue time limits: three minutes in Years 3-4, four in Years 5-8, five from Year 9 to Year 12; no Duologue class for Year 13 and above
• Scored out of 10 on a single mark; no criteria, grades or ranks are printed, and fees and other speech families are not modelled

Age groups

7

Competition items

2

Competitions

13

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.

Years 3-4

7From

–

9To

Candidates aged 7 to 9 compete in this group

Years 5-6

9From

–

11To

Candidates aged 9 to 11 compete in this group

Years 7-8

11From

–

13To

Candidates aged 11 to 13 compete in this group

Years 9-10

13From

–

15To

Candidates aged 13 to 15 compete in this group

Year 11

15From

–

16To

Candidates aged 15 to 16 compete in this group

Year 12

16From

–

17To

Candidates aged 16 to 17 compete in this group

Year 13 & Above

17From

–

120To

Candidates aged 17 to 120 compete in this group

Competition items

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

Dramatic Solo

ActionMarks

Dramatic 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 drama and skit judging criteria guide.