LAYLA Kirk always wanted to be an actor, but it never seemed like a ‘proper’ job.

“Career advisers at school would always say 'oh, acting, yes that’s great –but be realistic',” she says, grinning.

“But I was just in this wee bubble, wanting to act. I worked in Boots for a bit after school until I had the courage to go for it.”

Going for it meant a move to London and Layla recalls her parents – her Scottish Trinidadian mum Yvonne and her South African dad Abdul – being very supportive.

“It wasn’t an issue, they were fine with it,” she says, with a shrug. “My dad was a hairdresser, and he told everyone his daughter was off to London to be an actor.”

After two years studying at 3 Mills Studios, Layla landed parts in TV dramas Karen Pirie and The Nest, alongside Martin Compston, Sophie Rundle and Mirren Mack.

READ MORE: 'People love a caper': Miles Jupp on bringing classic comedy to Glasgow

“That was an amazing experience,” she agrees. “They were all really nice people. The Nest was my first job, in fact. I had one line, but I was so excited about it.”

After filming wrapped on Karen Pirie, the cop drama series based on Val McDermid’s books, Layla also worked on horror movie Mercy Falls, which was shot in and around the Highlands of Scotland.

Now the Aberdeen-born, Paris-based actor is making her professional theatre debut in Maryam Hamidi’s powerful new play, Moonset, the Citizens Theatre’s first production of 2023. It will be staged at the Tron Theatre in Glasgow as refurbishment work at the Citz' Gorbals home continues.

Glasgow Times:

“I’ve been so lucky to have had roles in television and film, but this is my first theatre,” she says. “It’s really exciting.”

Layla plays Roxy, a “fierce, real, 15-year-old girl” trying to make sense of the world and her place within it.

Living on a housing estate on the outskirts of Paisley, and lost somewhere between the bonfire of girlhood and the sharp edge of womanhood, Roxy gathers her friends Gina, Bushra and Joanne to begin meddling in witchcraft in the hunt for answers.

However, shadows are lurking, ready to swallow those she loves most in the world in this bold coming-of-age tale.

READ MORE: 'We're hooked': Scot Squad and Still Game stars on why they love wild swimming

Maryam Hamidi, who is also a celebrated actress, known for her role as Leyla Brodie on River City, says Moonset is her attempt to “explore that bone-cracking transition into womanhood and the shifting ground of relationships between mothers and daughters and teachers and friends at that precipice".

She adds: “I wanted to capture the messiness, rage, hope and hunger we feel at that age as well as the ache we have as older women looking back.

“Roxy, Bushra, Joanne and Gina are all living complex, challenging lives and I think that says something of us as school-age young adults – our inner worlds and outer selves are in conflict and you never quite know what the kid at the desk next to you is going through.”

Layla agrees. “Roxy goes through something similar to what I have been through – I lost my dad to cancer," she says. "Loss is such a big topic and you forget how awful it is for young people sometimes, the kinds of things they are going through.

“Maryam’s script is incredible, it’s fantastic to see women’s stories being told in theatre and it would be great to see more of that.”

Glasgow theatre is a “close-knit” world, she adds.

“It’s like a big family,” she says. “This is a very different world for me, it’s not like working in TV. I’m learning so much and I am loving it. Being told to ‘be realistic’ about my career feels like a long time ago…”