Croydon Performing Arts Festival – Drama — A South London Festival Drama Section: Duologue and Group Drama from Year 3 to Age 19 and Over

Speech & Drama · United Kingdom

The Croydon Performing Arts Festival’s Speech & Drama classes: 2 real classes (Duologue Drama, Group Drama) across a real UK school-year age ladder, built from the festival’s own official 2026 syllabus.

A ready-made speech and drama festival with two team classes, Duologue for pairs and Group Drama for ensembles, run across school-year bands with time limits from three to ten minutes.

This template models the Speech & Drama classes of a performing arts festival held each winter in a school in south London. Children and young people perform short prepared scenes in front of an adjudicator, who gives spoken feedback and awards a mark. It is built from the festival’s published 2026 syllabus, so the two classes, the school-year ladder and the time limits are real, but dates, fees and entry conditions change every year and the current syllabus must be checked before the template is reused.

Two team items are modelled. Duologue Drama is a scene for two performers entering together. Group Drama is an ensemble piece for a larger cast. Both are open to boys and girls and performed in English. In each, the syllabus counts the time taken to set up and to introduce the piece against the limit, so entrants should rehearse the whole entrance, not only the scene itself.

Entry is by school year rather than exact age, using the English year labels. Duologue Drama has seven groups: Year 3 and Under (ages 4 to 8), Years 4-5, Years 6-7, Years 8-9, Years 10-11, Years 12-13 and Ages 19 and Above. Group Drama has the same ladder without the adult group, so the adult group in this template simply has no Group Drama class. Duologue time limits run from three minutes for the youngest pairs, four minutes through the middle years, to five minutes for adults. Group Drama allows five minutes for the youngest, eight for Years 6 to 9 and ten for Years 10 to 13.

The syllabus prints no numeric points table or criteria sheet, so every class is scored out of a nominal 10 on a single mark and entry fees are installed as zero for each organiser to set. Before the day, tell entrants how characterisation, voice, movement and, for pairs and groups, how well the performers work together will be weighed.

Where this event comes from

The Speech & Drama classes are one section of an annual performing arts festival hosted by a school in south London, England.

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 system, including Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and parts of Canada. Local arts societies, schools and drama teachers run smaller versions of the same format, with an adjudicator, a time limit by age or school year and one mark per performance.

• United Kingdom

Key facts

• Two team competitions: Duologue Drama (pairs) and Group Drama (ensembles)
• Seven school-year groups for Duologue, from Year 3 and Under to Ages 19 and Above; six for Group Drama, ending at Years 12-13
• Open to boys and girls and performed in English
• Duologue time limits: three minutes for Year 3 and Under, four minutes for Years 4 to 13, five minutes for Ages 19 and Above, including set-up and introduction
• Group Drama time limits: five minutes for the youngest two groups, eight for Years 6 to 9, ten for Years 10 to 13
• Scored out of a nominal 10 on a single mark; other speech and drama classes such as verse speaking and public speaking 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.

Year 3 & Under

4From

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8To

Candidates aged 4 to 8 compete in this group

Years 4 & 5

9From

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10To

Candidates aged 9 to 10 compete in this group

Years 6 & 7

11From

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12To

Candidates aged 11 to 12 compete in this group

Years 8 & 9

13From

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14To

Candidates aged 13 to 14 compete in this group

Years 10 & 11

15From

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16To

Candidates aged 15 to 16 compete in this group

Years 12 & 13

17From

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18To

Candidates aged 17 to 18 compete in this group

Ages 19 & Above

19From

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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.

Duologue Drama

ActionMarks

Group Drama

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 mono act judging criteria guide.