Adult Acting Course - Beginner Friendly!

BACK FOR 2026! Adult Acting Course - Beginner Friendly! (18 hours)

Dates: Saturday mornings for 8 weeks, beginning 10 January 2026 (10am -12.15pm)
Venue: Tayside Deaf Hub, 23 Brown Street, Dundee DD1 5EF
Cost: £165.00 (+ Eventbrite fee), special concessionary rate of £145 (+Eventbrite fee) available for those for whom cost would be a barrier and Equity members
Learn to Act, Speak and Live with Confidence!

In this exciting, accessible 8-week course we use a blend of professional techniques and practices from British theatre and American film actor training to develop a solid foundation for acting with truth, emotion, imagination and spontaniety. This empowering course is open to complete beginners and to experienced actors looking to refresh their skills or work with new techniques. The classes are fun and challenging and take place in a structured and supportive environment. (Age 16+)

We will do warm-ups, which will involve exercises to improve your vocal, movement and listening skills, spatial awareness, concentration, relaxation and stage presence. We will work with improvisations and will learn about the basics of stagecraft. We will provide guidance on memory and line-learning techniques. There will also be exploration and development of character in various ways using, for example, scene analysis, hot seating and creating objectives. It's like a mini-version of drama school (and that means homework - some preparation for classes will be assigned every week).

You will have the chance to work with various partners on simple scripted scenes then do more in-depth work with a chosen partner by developing a scene from a theatre play or film script, or do a monologue if you prefer to work on your own.

There will be an exciting opportunity to perform scenes for each other in the last class.

The Acting Lab has been running high-quality acting and improv courses in Dundee since 2015.

Tutor: An experienced actor, director and teacher, Elaine Newton graduated from RSAMD in Glasgow (now the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland). She also trained in film acting in Los Angeles and at the Bilingual Acting Workshop in Paris, using American models for naturalistic acting. In addition, she has trained in London, Paris, Rotterdam and Glasgow with renowned practitioners including Mike Alfreds, Scott Williams, Amy Werba, Nadine George, Jo Estill. She has trained in Improv with the world-leading Second City Improv Chicago, Free Association in London and The Improfessionals in Paris. After teaching acting, voice and movement in Paris and Strasbourg, she established The Acting Lab in her hometown of Dundee ten years ago – a space for innovative actor training. Her international training has given her the knowledge base and breadth of experience to provide students with support and inspiration along with structured, practical acting skills and professional techniques from which great confidence can be gained and transferred to any aspect of life.

Elaine also teaches Improv courses and Speaking with Confidence courses. She also offers One-to-One Coaching for Acting and for Public Speaking (working both in person and on Zoom).

Testimonials for The Acting Lab
"Provocative, exciting, fulfilling – the time just flies!" (Bill Dewar)
"A very fun, diverse, confidence-building, creative and warm experience working with Elaine and a bunch of interesting people for eight weeks!" (Lydia Cole)
"A fun and enjoyable class with serious depth." (Ed Broughton)
"I urge everyone to give this course a go. I did the beginners and found as soon as I was done, I wanted to do more" (Eddie Anderson)
"I cannot overestimate how much this class helped me. Both with general confidence and with giving me a safe place to explore this interest I've had for years." (Calum Laverock)
"Elaine positively radiates good energy, and creates an atmosphere where every single person feels valued." (Gordon J Millar, Edinburgh)
"Elaine is simply excellent at what she does, putting all participants at ease immediately, building confidence, and inspiring us to create new things, and share experiences... Her classes are always a truly uplifting, multi-sensory experience." (Chris Jannetta)
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