How to Get Into Acting in Scotland
This blog is specifically aimed at those readers that are looking to get into acting, perhaps for the first time. Perhaps you’ve always fancied it, perhaps you’re looking to change direction or you just want to try acting and you’re not quite ready to quit your day job just yet.
Firstly, it depends on what you want to achieve. ‘Getting into Acting’ means many things to many people. Do you want to try acting at an amateur level to see if you’re any good? Do you fancy training formally at a college or drama school? Are you looking for less formal training, evening classes etc, or would you like to throw it all in and start your career as an actor tomorrow or even better today?
Here’s my advice for those of you that want to ‘get into acting’.
Amateur Level
In almost every town there are a couple of amateur dramatics clubs or groups that can give you your taste of acting. They may be cliquey and run by people who are accountants, florists, joiners, office managers and traffic wardens in the day time, but they’re also people that embrace the TRUE meaning of the word ‘Amateur’ – someone that does it for the love of it.
One mention goes to the STG, the Strathclyde Theatre Group, I’m sure they hate the label of ‘amateur’, but they’re a long-standing group – worth checking out and they have a good rep for giving people the chance to try out acting. Of course, auditioning at every level is competitive. If you’re rubbish, or if you don’t get cast, here’s where you’ll learn your first lessons.
Colleges/Conservatoires
Teaching Drama (or Acting) is big business. It’s very popular and so it makes good money. For this reason, there are dozens of acting courses across Scotland, all of varying qualities and reputations. I’m not going to recommend any other than the RSAMD here. They’re the national conservatory, they know what they’re doing and they do an excellent job. I don’t know whether any school ‘produces’ good actors, but it’s certain that they help them on their way.
Informal Training
I’ll be up front, this is what we provide. We’re not a traditional formal school environment. I am an acting teacher, I have a small actor training studio where we help people to discover acting. One of the very interesting things for me is that most commonly, people discover that they have no idea what to expect from acting. They think it’s doing funny voices or crying a lot. When they come to a proper acting studion, they struggle a little at first as their dream of what it was going to be like connects to the reality of training. Those
There are lots of small acting teachers in Scotland, offering classes, masterclasses and private acting training.
I provide acting classes in glasgow, alongside masterclasses in acting throughout Scotland. Raw Talent does something similar on a larger scale over in Edinburgh.
Get Going
I do not advise this option without trying out some of the previous items mentioned above. People without any understanding of our industry rarely get a clear perspective on it from outside. They may have a false impression of what it means to be an actor and you need some perspective.
Having said that, amateur theatre will teach you a lot of bad habits, formal training will be inflexible and be either very difficult to get into or not particularly very good. Informal training won’t give you the number of hours that you need and just ‘going for it’ will leave you unprepared for a very exacting career.
You can check out places like SCOT NITS, MANDY, Casting Call Pro and Glasgow Theatre Underground for auditions.
At Acting Coach Scotland, we try to introduce people to acting and the acting profession slowly and gradually. As students progress, they can take more and more classes and add private classes on top of that.
But please understand this: no one is going to open a door for you and you’ll find yourself a lead in River City. It doesn’t happen like that. It’s hard work, graft is our craft.
If you’d like some advice about how to ‘get into acting’, why not get in touch, visit my website Acting Coach Scotland and send me an email.