IN the 1950s, violent gang culture was rife in New York. Bloodshed and brutality raged through the streets, hand-in-hand with poverty.

Into this world stepped the Reverend David Wilkerson. On a calling from God, he befriended the gang members, turned them away from drugs and changed their lives.

This inspirational true story - immortalised in Wilkinson's book The Cross And The Switchblade - will be portrayed on stage in Worcester.

"It's about drugs, sex and violence," said Daniel Crow, who stars as gang leader Israel. "But it's also about redemption."

Crow has his suspicions that God played a part in getting him this role.

"I didn't really know where my next job was coming from," he said.

"I had no idea what I was going to do next. I remember going to bed, then waking up in the middle of the night thinking, I'm not got to get another job'. I had been talking to my wife about stories and we talked about The Cross And The Switchblade as a film. Days after, this job came along."

Crow, a former King's School student who moved to London to attend drama school, is knowledgeable about Wilkinson.

"An innocent teenager called Michael Farmer was murdered," he said. "This sparked a major media reaction and Wilkinson read about it in Life magazine.

"He begins to feel compassion for the gang members and feels God telling him to go there.

"He ends up getting very involved with the Mau Mau gang in Brooklyn and the story is basically about his relationship with them."

The Saltmine Theatre Company production is at the Swan on Friday, June 15 and Saturday, June 16.