Tunbridge Wells Arts Festival – Drama — A Kent Arts Festival Drama Section: Dramatic Solo and Duo or Trio Classes Across Eight School-Year Tiers

Speech & Drama · United Kingdom

The Tunbridge Wells Arts Festival (Kent, England) Drama section, with real Dramatic Solo and Dramatic Duo or Trio classes across a UK School-Year-based age ladder up to Year 13.

A ready-made drama section with a solo acting class and a small-cast class for pairs or trios, graded by UK school year from the youngest primary entrants to sixth formers, with time limits that rise as performers get older.

This template models the Drama section of a town arts festival in Kent, in south-east England. Performers present a short prepared piece to an adjudicator, who gives spoken feedback and a mark. It is built from the festival’s own published 2027 syllabus, so the two classes, the school-year tiers and the time limits are real. Syllabuses change each year, so check the current one before reusing dates, fees or entry rules.

Two competitions are modelled. Dramatic Solo is one performer on their own. Dramatic Duo or Trio is a small cast of two or three performing a scene together, so a school or drama class can enter whichever size of group it has. Both are open to boys and girls and performed in English. At the oldest tier the syllabus offers a single senior drama class in which an entrant chooses either the solo or the duo-or-trio route, which is why both items run there.

Entrants are grouped by UK school year, giving eight age groups: up to Year 2, Years 3 and 4, Year 5, Year 6, Year 7, Year 8, Year 9 and Years 10 to 13. The solo class uses all eight tiers with its own limit for each. The duo-or-trio class is printed more coarsely in the syllabus as Junior, Intermediate and Senior, so each coarse class is applied to every finer year group it spans. Time limits rise with age, from two minutes for the youngest soloists to five minutes at senior level, and from three to five minutes for groups.

The source does not print a marking table for these classes, so each is scored on a nominal 10 and entry fees are installed as zero for each organiser to set. The festival publishes mark bands from Developing through to Exceptional, which are installed without point values, and placings of First, Second and Third. Tell entrants in advance how characterisation, voice, movement and, for groups, teamwork and shared focus will be weighed.

Where this event comes from

The Drama section is one part of an annual multi-discipline arts festival held each spring in a Kent spa town, with music and speech classes alongside drama.

Where this event is run

Competitive drama festivals with adjudicator feedback 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, drama teachers and schools run smaller versions of the same format, usually with an age-based ladder and a strict time limit per entry.

• United Kingdom

Key facts

• Two competitions: Dramatic Solo and Dramatic Duo or Trio
• Eight school-year tiers, from up to Year 2 to Years 10-13
• Solo limits run from 2 minutes (youngest) to 5 minutes (Years 10-13)
• Duo or trio limits are 3 minutes up to Year 6, 4 minutes for Years 7-9 and 5 minutes at senior level
• Mixed-gender entry, performed in English
• Scored on a nominal 10 with a single mark; the source prints no criteria sheet

Age groups

8

Competition items

2

Competitions

16

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.

Up to Year 2

5From

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7To

Candidates aged 5 to 7 compete in this group

Year 3-4

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9To

Candidates aged 7 to 9 compete in this group

Year 5

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Candidates aged 9 to 10 compete in this group

Year 6

10From

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Candidates aged 10 to 11 compete in this group

Year 7

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12To

Candidates aged 11 to 12 compete in this group

Year 8

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13To

Candidates aged 12 to 13 compete in this group

Year 9

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Candidates aged 13 to 14 compete in this group

Year 10-13

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18To

Candidates aged 14 to 18 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 Duo or Trio

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.