A small team of two to six performers tells one story in silence, using only movement, gesture and facial expression, and is judged as a single ensemble.
Small group mime is silent storytelling by a few performers together. There is no speech, no singing and no narration: a team of two to six people builds a situation, a set of characters and a beginning, middle and end using only posture, gesture, movement and faces. The panel is not marking six separate soloists but one ensemble piece, so the way the performers share the space and react to one another matters as much as any single role.
A round is short and bare. The team is called, walks on, takes its opening positions and holds a still moment before it begins. Each member usually plays a clear character or a clear part of the scene, such as a person, an obstacle or an unseen object, and the story moves by handing focus from one performer to the next. Invisible things, a door, a heavy box, a rope, a crowd, have to be made believable by where every member looks and how they move around them, which is why the whole team must agree on exactly where those objects are.
On eTalenter the item is carried by three talent templates: a junior drama division for ages 7 to 12 (a team item, five-minute limit, marked out of 5), an international teen template for ages 13 to 19 (a team item with no time limit printed, scored as a rating with a maximum of 5) and a Jamaican talent showcase whose youth class runs from 13 to 40 (a team item marked out of 100, no time limit printed). In the two templates that define it, a small group means two to six participants, and the separate large group mime class starts at seven. It is open to both genders in all three.
Organisers run it because it is quiet to stage, needs no sound system, no script and almost no props, and it draws in entrants who would rather act than speak. It sits beside the solo and large group mime classes, so a small team never competes against a lone performer or a big ensemble.
Where Small Group Mime is run
On eTalenter this item is carried by three talent templates: a United States junior drama division, an international teen talent template and a Jamaican talent showcase. Silent group storytelling also appears in school drama, youth theatre and festival syllabuses elsewhere, but this page records only the templates that carry the item, so organisers should check their own notice for team size, time limit and judging headings.
- United States
- Jamaica
- Worldwide
Key facts
- Team item: two to six performers, one piece, one shared score
- Three templates carry it: a junior class (7-12), teens (13-19) and a Jamaican youth class (13-40)
- Only the junior template prints a time limit: five minutes
- Marked out of 5 (junior), out of 100 (Jamaican youth) and as a rating with a maximum of 5 (teen)
- Small group means two to six; seven or more moves to the large group class
- English-language programmes, open to both genders in all three templates
On eTalenter, Small Group Mime is filed under Drama and typically scored with Marks, Rating out of 10. It appears in 3 ready-made event templates — each one can adjust its time limit, age-group assignment and scoring setup independently.
Across the templates that use it, Small Group Mime is most often entered as an Team competition, typically scored out of 5, commonly time-limited to around 5 minutes where a limit is set.
What judges look at in Small Group Mime
What a Small Group Mime panel is actually weighing up, and where the marks are usually won or lost:
- The story: one idea a stranger can follow with the sound off, with a clear start, a turn and a finish rather than a string of unconnected poses
- Ensemble work: the team moving, freezing and reacting together, with focus passing cleanly from one performer to the next
- Believable invisible objects: every member agreeing where the door, wall or box is and treating it with the same size and weight each time
- Facial expression and physical control: faces that show the feeling and movements that are deliberate rather than fast and busy
- Use of space and stillness: groupings and levels that keep everyone visible, and clean freezes that let the audience take in each moment
- Discipline: no stray sounds or mouthed words, tidy entrance and exit, and finishing inside the time the organiser sets
Treat these as the judging focus, not a fixed rubric: publish your own weighted criteria for Small Group Mime under Scoring Setup, or start from the full mime & tableau judging criteria guide.
How to prepare for Small Group Mime
How entrants and their teachers usually get Small Group Mime right on the day:
- Choose a story that needs every member: give each person a character or a clear job, and cut anyone who is only filling space
- Write the story as a short list of scenes before rehearsing, so the team agrees the beginning, the turning point and the ending
- Fix the position of every invisible object with marks on the floor in rehearsal, then repeat it until nobody changes it
- Rehearse silently with the faces first: run the whole piece in front of a mirror or a phone camera and check what each expression says
- Practise freezes and hand-offs of focus, so the audience always knows who to watch and nobody upstages the story
- Agree a silent cue for starting and for any restart, such as a breath or a nod, because nobody can call a line
- Time every run against the limit and rehearse the entrance and exit as part of the piece, since they are marked too
- Ask the organiser about costume, props and music before adding any, and plain clothes in matching colours are a safe starting point
Frequently asked questions
Is Small Group Mime 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.
How many people can be in a small group mime?
Where the templates define it, a small group is two to six participants and seven or more is the large group. Organisers should still state their own minimum and maximum in their notice.
Can we speak, whisper or use sound effects?
No. Mime is a silent art, so spoken words, whispers and vocal sound effects should be left out. Whether recorded music is allowed depends on the organiser, so check the notice.
How long can the piece be?
The junior template prints a five-minute limit. The teen and Jamaican templates print no limit, so organisers should publish one and entrants should rehearse to it.
Is it the same as the large group mime or the pantomime classes?
No. Small group mime is for two to six performers, the large group class starts at seven, and the templates list pantomime and interpretive movement as separate classes, so entrants should enter the one that matches their team and their piece.
Want the full judging picture? Read the full mime & tableau judging criteria guide, or browse every drama competition item.
Try Small Group Mime in eTalenter
See every ready-made template that runs Small Group Mime, and install one as a live event — age groups, rules and scoring included.
