Charli Ward talks about The Invite
Bradford is currently enjoying being The City of Culture 2025. As part of the celebration an immersive theatrical adventure is planned that invites audiences to a surprise party featuring live music, movement and of course birthday cake. The Invite is created by Bradford-based Mind the Gap, England’s premier learning disability performance and arts company. We were delighted to chat with their Creative Director, Charli Ward, about this world premiere production.
Hi Charli. Thanks so much for talking to us about this amazing event! Firstly, can you tell us a bit about the premise for the show? It’s a birthday party at the pub I believe?
Yeah, the show has been devised to feel like the audience are entering a real surprise party. The party (show) quickly takes a turn as the birthday girl enters, and it turns out she hates surprises!!
We then take the audience on an immersive journey where ordinary meet extraordinary, meeting characters at the party who are trying to figure life out! They invite you into their world to feel what they feel and experience moments they feel.
The whole show has been devised by the performers in collaboration with director Rich Rusk and is inspired by the performers lived experiences.
Mind the Gap works with and for people with learning disabilities. Are some of their stories integrated into the narrative of The Invite?
Mind the Gap collaborates with learning disabled and/or autistic artists. All of the stories we share in The Invite have been inspired by the performers’ lived experiences. Mind the Gap has a large Academy, training students at a level for a career in the arts and a community strand, working with many different people and groups and stories from these aspects to the company have also inspired themes in the show.
You’ve devised an ambitious production, full of music, movement and storytelling. Can you tell us about your cast and the talents they bring to the show?
The cast is made up of three artists that have been making and touring with the company for many years, some for over 25 years and three graduate artists from our level four performing arts training course in collaboration with York St John University.
This combination of skills, both years of performing in front of audiences and the discipline that comes with rigorous training, has meant that the cast has been able to be challenged and platform a wide range of their performance skills.
We also have band that consists of working musicians and newly graduated ones and they bring so much dynamism and fun to the show.
This is a fabulous showcase of inclusive practice that gives visibility to diverse members of the creative community, but will there also be opportunity for the audience to join them in the party?
You bet! Imagine ‘immersive meets access’! Plenty of opportunity to get involved in that isn’t too scary but also is still a wonderful immersive experience if you do just want to watch without interacting.
The Invite is being performed at a bespoke venue, The Beacon. What can we expect there by way of format and access?
The Beacon is a great space, a large venue, situated in Lister Park. It has easy access and The Invite has been devised with access at the forefront which means you can see the space before the show, hear the sounds, find out about the characters and much more. There is lots of information online too from introductory notes, an audio flyer, a BSL flyer and the show has BSL at every performance, creative caption and imbedded audio description.
And finally, tell me about the cake!
Ha, the cake! I won’t give too much away but it’s a classic!
Thanks so much to Charli for filling us in on this exciting production. The Invite takes place at The Beacon, Lister Park, Bradford, from Wednesday 17 to Saturday 20 September.
