Scotland has produced loads of great actors over the years, and that’s thanks in no small part to the great training on offer. Some of the UK’s most beloved actors (Ncuti Gatwa, anyone?) trained in Glasgow, so we’ve rounded up some of the best classes on offer so you, too, can sharpen your acting skills and potentially shine on the screen or stage.
Here are five of the city’s best acting classes, as well as why we think each one is worth your consideration.
1. Royal Conservatoire of Scotland’s year-long adult acting courses
The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (RCS) offers so many drama classes in Glasgow, from pre-degree access level to PhD, that you could attend classes there on a weekly basis for the best part of a decade without running out of options. If you’re after a regular session, try a year-long adult acting course, which covers Acting for Beginners, Performance Company, Shakespeare Company, Acting Development, and more.
Cost
The courses don’t come cheap – the least expensive is Acting for Beginners at £738 for the year – but there’s financial support on offer, including a scholarship offered by BAFTA-winning actor James McAvoy. There are also discounts for booking multiple courses, siblings attending, and being a student or alum of the RCS.
Why choose it?
The RCS has been training actors and dancers since 1847. It was chosen as “one of the top performing arts institutions in the world” by the Sunday Times in May 2024 and rated among the top 10 institutions in the world for performing arts in the 2025 QS World rankings. If that’s not enough to persuade you, consider that their alums include Doctor Who actors Ncuti Gatwa and David Tennant, Outlander’s Sam Heughan, and opera singer Karen Cargill.
2. Acting Coach Scotland’s Stage 1 acting class
Acting Coach Scotland (ACS) has part‑time evening acting courses (Stage 1, Stage 2, and higher) that run weekly, covering improvisation and play, script and character work, screen acting, and much more. Each stage can be completed in a matter of weeks, and the ability to combine the courses gives you an ongoing, structured acting education.
Cost
Stage 1 costs £185, while Stage 2 was recently on sale for £150. Look out for bargains!
Why choose it?
ACS has trained professional actors since 2008, and their students have won awards; appeared in roles in series and films from Netflix, Amazon, and the BBC; and performed onstage both on and off the West End. Natasha Jayahendry, for example, was in Amazon’s Wheel of Time, while George Bowers won the Talk of the Town award at the 2022 Edinburgh 48 Hour Film Project.
3. Break a Leg Academy’s Lab Acting class
Break a Leg Academy’s Lab Acting class is a weekly scene work and improvisation group aimed at actors with some prior experience. The lab offers a space to explore acting technique through practical exercises in a supportive setting. Each lab is drop-in by design, but many actors attend regularly to take advantage of an ongoing, flexible training environment. Classes take place in person at the Pentagon Centre in Glasgow or online via Zoom.
Cost
Prices begin at £35 per drop-in class or £100 per block of four. BALA also runs pay-what-you-can online classes on Monday nights from 6 to 9 p.m.
Why choose it?
Lab Acting is run by Kat Harrison, the artistic director of Chaos Collective who has 20 years of experience in the industry. Online reviews are consistently positive. The in-person lab offers high-quality, small-group training, while the online version ensures accessibility for all budgets through BALA’s Kindness Fund. Lab classes “don’t have a start and finish point,” Harrison says, and actors can enrol at any time to “keep their muscles flexed whilst building community.”
4. Glasgow Acting Academy’s Acting Technique
The weekly classes at Glasgow Acting Academy (GAA) are split into two disciplines: acting and musical theatre. Available to people ages 8 to 18, the courses cover a variety of skills, concepts, and theories. Each class lasts three hours and involves both group work and individual tasks. They run on different days of the week depending on your age group, and there’s a two-week free trial that gives you and GAA a chance to see if you’re right for each other.
Cost
One class per week is £66 per month, or you could attend as many of the weekly classes as you like for £99 per month. There’s a limited number of scholarships available for students in financial need, so reach out if the price is too high for you.
Why choose it?
GAA is run by general manager and GAA graduate Caitlin Gillespie, who has experience acting in Cops and Monsters and Waterloo Road. Other alums include Sean Connor, who appeared in BBC productions One of Us, Still Game, and Trust Me and has a regular role in River City, and Finlay MacMillan, who starred in Tim Burton’s Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. GAA also runs regular theatre events, including a yearly panto that you can audition for no matter whether you’re a GAA student. They were also selected by National Theatre Connections, a nationwide youth theatre festival, to perform at the National’s Dorfman Theatre in London in June 2025.
5. Southside Performance Studio’s Become a Professional Actor programme
This programme of courses put together by Southside Performance Studio (SPS) aims to take trainees from learning the basics to getting represented by an agent and landing paid work as an actor. The stages are: fundamentals, essentials, showreel, voice acting, mindset training, and headshots.
Cost
Each stage is individually priced:
- Fundamentals: £299
- Essentials: £349
- Showreel: £499
- Voice acting: £399
- Mindset training: £199
- Headshots: £150
Why choose it?
If you complete all six stages of the training, you’ll be guaranteed representation by SPS’ own agency! That’s an unusual and particularly useful outcome from acting classes. SPS is recognised by Spotlight, and it also has over 100 five-star reviews on Google, suggesting high student satisfaction rates.
It’s time to decide which course best suits your needs, and then reach out and start your acting journey today.