What Should Beginners Acting Courses Include?

If you are setting out on the ladder to your acting career, a good first step is a beginner’s acting course. Even if you have sailed through school and college with people falling at your feet declaring that you are the best actor the world has ever seen, chances are you would benefit from some acting classes. But what should you be looking for? Here’s a little breakdown:

1. Good teaching and support. You will need your acting course to be taught by someone who can actually act, and if they are a veteran of the acting world with lots of experience under their belt then so much the better. An experienced actor can teach you the ways of the acting world; what you will need to do to succeed; and how you can best go about that succeeding. 

2. A chance to act in front of an audience. If your beginner’s acting course doesn’t offer you the chance to stand up on stage, it’s best to look for a different one. Acting theory is all well and good, but you need to be able to put it into practice too - standing up in front of an audience for the first time can be daunting, but it will provide you with armfuls of useful experience.

3. Movement and vocal training. Being able to use your body and your voice to their fullest advantage is something that should be taught on any decent acting course, as without your voice and your body there’s not a lot of acting that can be done! You may think that you’ve got that all covered - after all, you walk about and speak to people on a daily basis, right? Well, actually, there is a lot more to movement and voice than just that. Who’d have thought it!

4. Audition training. The audition is your chance to show a panel of judges why you are perfect for that part, and you don’t get very long to do that. You need to grab them instantly, and make them believe in you enough to cast you, and without a good audition you don’t stand a chance. A good beginner’s acting course will help you learn various techniques and ways to nail that audition first time.

5. One to one support. If the class is massive then chances are you won’t get very much individual time, as the teacher will be too busy trying to make sure everybody gets a look in. Try to find an acting course with limited numbers, as you will find the quality of teaching and support is far higher.

The best beginner’s acting course will not only teach you all of the above, but something else too - the ability to be confident, to step out of your own skin and into the skin of the person you want to be. Go ahead and find yourself some acting classes - your future self will be glad you did.

Check out our beginners acting course.