North West

For the last couple of weeks, The Zion arts centre in Salford has been bouncing to the sounds of 'Innit' – a musical set in the low-life, high-rise world of the streets.

From street to stage - Innit.

The driving force behind this new urban musical is Micky Dacks – a man whose life of crime started at age eight when he burnt down a shop.

His teenage years saw him dealing drugs and living rough.

Later in life he was sent to prison for impersonating a Lord and blagging his way into free nights at London’s Ritz Hotel - a far cry from his roots.

The unlikely genesis of the musical came while he was serving time for assault and fraud and he began to write poetry.

Turning lives around

On leaving prison he was determined to turn his life around and focused more and more on his writing – leading to his script for 'Innit'.

"Welcome to Salford the place to be
Where if you want protection you gotta pay a fee…
You parked yer car in an unsafe zone
So we’ll get yer stereo an yer mobile phone
We’ll set it alight, we’ll watch it burn
Our entertainment for the night… "

Micky Dacks and leading man Nick Saide.

The musical follows the story of Ashley - a young man growing up on a Salford housing estate - and the life choices he’s forced to make.

Ashley is played by local lad Nick Saide and incredibly this is his first acting role.

Nick had never even set foot inside a theatre until a chance encounter with Micky Dacks outside a pub led him to give the auditions a go.

Street credibility

Like Micky, Nick’s own experiences on the wrong side of the law have helped bring extra credibility to the role.

Micky and co-director Paul Kondras.

He’s not the only member of the cast who has never acted professionally before, with many of them coming to the production through open 'street auditions'.

During rehearsals Micky admits the first performance will come as a shock for many of them:

'We've rehearsed but when they get into the theatre, under the lights, find where they've got to stand - it's going to be an adrenaline punch.

"There's kids only 17 or 18 years old who've never done anything in their lives, and now they're on stage in a lead role. It's going to be amazing to see that."

Inside Out was there to capture their baptism of fire on the opening night, performing in front of a crowd of hundreds at the prestigious Lowry Theatre.