10 - Steve lights the way

 

Steve Hill, who co-ordinated Radio One’s Big Weekend starring Madonna, and has worked with the likes of Oasis, Bryan Adams and The Zutons, is working on Wrosne – An Underground Experience.

 

The 43-year-old, who runs Sutton Coldfield-based events company EMO Ltd, has taken up the challenge to build an underground stage in the Singing Cavern hundreds of feet beneath Dudley.

 

He and his team are also setting up lighting and sound for the show, which will see up to two hundred people each night taken by narrow boat along Dudley’s underground canals into the cavern for the show.

 

Steve said:

“Staging and lighting this show is a fresh challenge for me. I’ve engineered and managed hundreds of big outdoor events for all the major names in the music business but I’ve not yet done anything in a cavern where the only access is by narrow boat.

 

“We’ve got a few challenges ahead of us like building a cantilevered stage and working through the night to get the equipment in so as not to disrupt the daytime canal cruises.

 

“It will be worth it though. The caverns are incredible and provide a unique backdrop for this ground-breaking show.”         

 

Around 60 teenagers from the Wren’s Nest and Priory estates and Stourbridge-based choir Stream of Sound will perform Wrosne – An Underground Experience.

 

The story follows an eager group of youngsters at the launch of a new nightclub and takes the audience on a journey into the unknown.

 

There will be two performances each evening for one week from July 20, 21, 23 and 25, featuring music, drama, singing, dance, special effects and storytelling.

 

Tickets are currently available on 01384 812812 or www.dudley.gov.uk/entertainment and cost £12.50, £10 for concessions and £25 for a family.

 

“Wrosne promises to be much more than simply an amazing underground performance. The project is a programme of radical personal development for dozens of young people who have been brought together from two estates in Dudley.

 

“Many of the young performers have taken a step into the unknown by doing this but I’m sure they will put on a show to remember.”

 

Leaps & Bounds, which was responsible for the highly successful Ballet Hoo! screened on Channel 4 in 2006 is behind Wrosne together with Dudley Council and Arts Council England.