Two performers bring a scene from the novels of Charles Dickens to life together, judged on characterisation, partnership and storytelling within a set time limit.
Charles Dickens Duologue is a drama and speech item for a pair of performers who present a prepared scene taken from the work of Charles Dickens. It is the two-handed counterpart of the solo Dickens class: the words are a Victorian author's, but here the partners can hand the story back and forth, so the challenge is to make nineteenth-century dialogue sound like two real people thinking, reacting and interrupting each other.
In the festival template that carries it, the class runs in school-year bands rather than exact ages. It is offered for Year 7-8, Year 9-10 and Year 11 and over, with no class published for the youngest primary band. The time limit is six minutes for Year 7-8 and seven minutes for each of the two older bands, longer than the matching solo class because two voices share the stage. Boys and girls may pair up freely, the scene is in English, and one overall mark out of ten is the nominal score the template carries.
A round is simple to describe and hard to do well. Pairs are called in order, perform from memory or as the rules allow, and leave. The adjudicator watches the whole scene and awards a mark with written comments. Dickens often writes one character talking at length to another, so a good entry chooses an episode with a real exchange, such as a quarrel, a bargain, a confession or a misunderstanding, and cuts it so each partner has a fair share of the lines and a clear objective.
Organisers run the class because it rewards teamwork as well as reading. It gives pupils a reason to study a classic text closely, teaches them to listen on stage, and sits naturally beside the general duologue class for the same age bands, where the choice of text is open, and the solo Dickens class for entrants who prefer to perform alone.
Where Charles Dickens Duologue is run
In eTalenter's data this item appears in one template, an English town festival of music, speech and drama whose syllabus includes a Dickens section for solo and paired entries. It is a niche class, so treat any other festival's version as its own item and read its rules on text, cutting, number of performers and time before preparing.
- United Kingdom - England (competitive festival drama and speech sections)
Key facts
- Team entry of two performers; boys, girls and mixed pairs compete together within each school-year band.
- Three bands only: Year 7-8 (about ages 12-13), Year 9-10 (14-15) and Year 11 and over (16+); no class is published for Year 5-6.
- Performed in English, with a time limit of 6 minutes for Year 7-8 and 7 minutes for each of the two older bands.
- Nominal score is one mark out of 10; the template prints no criterion breakdown, so ask the organiser how the mark is built.
- Different from the open Duologues class (any suitable text) and from the Charles Dickens Solo, which is performed by one person.
- Idea starters, not rules: a miserly employer and a clerk, a child asking for more at the table, two relatives arguing over an inheritance, or a ghost and the person it visits, each cut to a single exchange.
On eTalenter, Charles Dickens Duologue is filed under Action 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, Charles Dickens Duologue is most often entered as an Team competition, typically scored out of 10, commonly time-limited to 6–7 minutes where a limit is set.
What judges look at in Charles Dickens Duologue
What a Charles Dickens Duologue panel is actually weighing up, and where the marks are usually won or lost:
- Characterisation: each partner has a distinct voice, posture and attitude, held steady through the scene so the listener always knows who is speaking.
- Partnership and listening: lines are picked up promptly, reactions are visible while the other speaks, and neither performer dominates or waits for a cue.
- Understanding of the text: the sense of each speech is clear, emphasis falls on the words that matter, and period vocabulary is handled with confidence.
- Voice and diction: both performers are audible with varied pace and tone, and clarity is kept when the dialogue speeds up or overlaps.
- Shape and time discipline: the scene has a clear beginning, build and end, with staging that suits two people, and it finishes inside the band's limit.
Treat these as the judging focus, not a fixed rubric: publish your own weighted criteria for Charles Dickens Duologue under Scoring Setup, or start from the full mono act judging criteria guide.
How to prepare for Charles Dickens Duologue
How entrants and their teachers usually get Charles Dickens Duologue right on the day:
- Choose a scene with a genuine exchange and a clear want for each character, then cut hard so the lines are shared fairly and the piece fits the limit.
- Read the whole chapter together so both partners know what happened before the scene and what each character is hiding or hoping for.
- Agree one voice choice and one physical habit for each character and keep them consistent from the first run-through to the day.
- Rehearse the cue lines until the pick-ups are tight, then rehearse the silences, because reactions between speeches are where pairs often lose marks.
- Plan simple staging: where each person stands, when they move, and where they look, so the audience can follow the conversation without props.
- Time every run-through and aim slightly under the limit for your band, leaving room for nerves and a slow first line.
- Perform to someone who has not read the book and ask who spoke, where it happened and what changed; rework whatever was unclear, and check the syllabus for rules on scripts, props and costume.
Frequently asked questions
Is Charles Dickens Duologue 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.
Does the scene have to be from a Charles Dickens novel?
The class name says the material is Charles Dickens, so expect to choose a scene from his work. The exact rules on novels, short pieces and adaptations are set by each festival, so check the syllabus before choosing.
How long can a Charles Dickens Duologue be?
In the template that carries it the limit is 6 minutes for Year 7-8 and 7 minutes for Year 9-10 and for Year 11 and over. Other festivals may differ.
Is this the same as the Duologues class?
No. The general Duologues class lets the pair choose any suitable dramatic text, while this class is built around a Dickens scene, so the literary choice and the cutting are part of the preparation.
Can the two performers be different ages or genders?
Boys and girls compete together in this template. Each pair enters in one school-year band, so check with the organiser which band applies if the partners are in different years.
Want the full judging picture? Read the full mono act judging criteria guide, or browse every action competition item.
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