STEVE Liddle was just 14 when he joined X-Entricity as a member of the original cast when the company was formed, and now, 15 years later he directs the Ross-on-Wye based company in Legally Blonde, which comes to The Courtyard from May 31 to June 3.

"The reason I do what I do - Steve is head of business for Cotswold Hereford MINI - is because of the training, guidance support and friendship I gained from X-Entricity. It gave me confidence and people skills and that's why I still do it now.

"One of my passions is cars and the other is performance," he says. "I was brought up around the motor trade but had a grandmother who was an opera star - I needed to be doing both," he explains.

Steve is a busy man - as well as a full-time job and working with X-Entricity, he also sings in two bands - The Hey Yahs, an eight-piece party band, and The Silhouettes, a Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons tribute band. Unafraid of hard work, he's not afraid of pushing his young cast either.

"The kids in X-Entricity tend to do it because it's what they want to do for a living, and that means you can push them.

"Quite often they don't believe in themselves until they see it. Year on year, we've had more than 600 members, which makes me feel like a dad to 600 kids. You remember them at 14, really shy, and by the time they are 18, they're absolutely flying (among those whose careers took off post-X-Entricity is Ollie Alexander of chart-topping band Years and Years). Basically, that's why I do it.

"My belief is that there is no limit. If your expectation is low that's all you will ever reach," says Steve, conceding that his cast members 'get a hard ride'.

Working with Steve is choreographer Sarah Jane Matthews - "her passion is quite frankly outstanding" and Jane Hewson, who's been with X-Entricity since the year after it began. "I'll say to her 'I need a car (half a New York taxi for Fame!) and she will go and find one!"

"But the big challenge with Legally Blonde is how bitty it is. Rehearsing it is a nightmare because there are so many different things and different people," says Steve.

The story of Elle, the sorority girl who attempts to win back her ex-boyfriend by getting a law degree at Harvard, has already charmed audiences in Ross and now comes to The Courtyard. To book, call the box office on 01432 340555 or visit courtyard.org.uk