The Wizard Of Oz, West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds, March 5 to April 16

THE Wizard Of Oz goes hi-tech at the West Yorkshire Playhouse next week.

This is the production that places design concept before direction in the credit for artistic director Jude Kelly: testament to the importance of technological imagery in a show with eight actors, Patrick Stewart's virtual wizard, puppets, traditional 3-D set designs and 2-D projected objects.

Among the cast of eight in real rather than virtual form is Playhouse regular Ken Bradshaw, who plays the Tin Man, having appeared as the Scarecrow in a more traditional production at the Bolton Octagon at Christmas 1998.

"Bolton had some technology involved, a few pyrotechnics but nothing on this scale," says Ken. "We'll be behind glass a lot of the time, and to a greater extent our set will be projected, but in terms of performance it will be 95 per cent live," he says.

In rehearsal, the cast has been subservient to the technology, working on how to move in tandem with the virtual imagery. "But once we get to the performances, the technology will be serving what we do: we'll be the ones telling the story, and that's why we all agreed to do the show," says Ken. "As soon as you take away actors' control, live theatre has had it but I don't think we've reached that far."

Multi-media technology has played a prominent role in such Playhouse productions as Deadmeat, Singin' In The Rain and JB Priestley's experimental Johnson Over Jordan, in which Ken took on myriad roles.

"If people come out of a show and they feel unmoved then we've failed but with Johnson Over Jordan, they came out definitely reacting," he says.

Ken considers himself a character actor, who played 13 roles in The Cucumber Man but prefers "fully written characters to small vignettes" and is now relishing a role with the multiple demands of acting, singing, dancing and interacting with technology.

"I love the singing, though I haven't trained in singing - I didn't go to drama school - and I've worked hard to improve my singing, but I'm actor who enjoys singing rather than a singer and I love being around people who really can do it. It's such a tangible skill, whereas acting is so ethereal and subjective.

"With a singer, even if you don't like a voice, you know if they can sing. It's something you can measure. With acting, that's harder to do."

The answer is to look at the CV, and Ken Bradshaw has been in demand for all manner of plays and roles.

The Wizard Of Oz, West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds, March 5 to April 16. Box office: 0113 213 7700.

Updated: 09:01 Friday, March 01, 2002