The play is set in a troubled '80s mining community

A brass band from Shropshire is to perform in a stage version of the popular film Brassed Off.

The Jackfield Brass Band from Ironbridge Gorge will appear in next month's Birmingham Repertory Theatre production.

Band members will have to play their instruments, march and act in the stage version of the film about life in a depressed mining community.

The show's director Neale Birch said the event would be quite a challenge.

Near blackout

"One of the things is learning to play in the dark - I haven't told them this yet.

"The very first piece they play, Death or Glory, begins the show.

"If you can imagine the situation - the audience is there waiting with bated breath - we take the lights down low and the audience music comes out of almost a blackout.

"So the band will actually start playing in the wings in a very dim light and then they march on to the stage and then we bring the lights up on them."