Birdie

Birdie is a beautiful show featuring three professional actors with learning disabilities, blending intricate choreography, original music, and captivating object manipulation to tell a powerful story about climate change. Homie, the main character, travels in a mesmerising upcycled mobile home. They are determined to make a difference in the face of the daunting climate crisis.

Homie meets Birdie, a new friend struggling to navigate a world filled with plastics and pollution. With Homie’s help they embark on a journey towards freedom and hope, inspiring positive action and encouraging people to stand up for what’s right.

But the excitement doesn’t end there! After the show, the audience will have the chance to interact with Homie’s incredible mobile home, complete with designs that make climate change accessible and easy to understand.

Then, you and your family can unleash your creativity with arts and crafts, making pledges and creating artwork that will be displayed as part of the show’s tour and online for everyone to see.

Cast

A headshot of Charlotte Jones. Charlotte is a Black women with black shoulder length hair. She is wearing a peach coloured sweater. She is smiling and looking slightly off to the side. She is pictured against a dark background.

Charlotte Jones

Birdie

A headshot of Alan Clay. Alan is a white middle-aged man with grey shoulder length hair and a grey beard. He is wearing a red t-shirt with a blue hoodie over the top. He is pictured against a dark background.

Alan Clay

Sammie

A headshot of Lorraine Brown. Lorraine is a white woman with long straight brown hair. She is smiling and looking off towards the side slightly. She is wearing a pink and black floral top. She is pictured against a dark background.

Lorraine Brown

Homie

A headshot of Alison Colborne. She is a white woman with shoulder length wavy mousey brown hair. She is wearing dark rimmed rectangle glasses and a flowery top. She is pictured against a dark background.

Alison Colborne

Understudy

Credits

Director – Joyce Lee
Designer – Eye of Newt
Movement Director – Karen Bartholomew
Composer – Jez Colborne
Sound Designer / Creative Enabler -James Heselwood
Audio Describer – Vicky Ackroyd
Production Manager – Caroline Sheard
Company Stage Manager – Lisa Debney
Producer – Emily Blackwell

Gallery

Tour Dates

Birdie is back on the road this spring!

Friday 12 April | Spot on Lancashire | Darwen Market Square | 11:30 & 14:00

Saturday 13 April | Spot on Lancashire | Blackburn Market | 11:30 & 14:00

Saturday 04 May | ARC Stockton Arts Centre | 14:30

Thursday 09 May | SeeAbility 

Wednesday 22 & Thursday 23 May | The Spark Festival

Saturday 25 & Sunday 26 May | Brighton Festival | 12:00 & 14:30

03 – 10 June | Priestly Academy Primary Schools, Bradford

Sunday 16 June | Holmfirth Arts Festival | 12:45 & 15:00

Tuesday 18 June | Cheshire Rural Touring Arts | Neston Library | 13:30

Wednesday 19 June | Cheshire Rural Touring Arts | St Mary’s Creative Space | 13:30

Wednesday 17 July | Birkenhead Central Library | 11:30 & 13:30

Sunday 21 July | East Riding Theatre | 14:00

We are still booking for 2024. Please contact emily@mind-the-gap.org.uk for more details, or view our tour pack.

 

2023 Tour

  • Cliffe Castle
  • Kaleidoscope Festival, Storyhouse, Chester
  • BD:Festival, Broadway Centre
  • Bradford Museums, Cartwright Hall
  • Bradford Museums, Bolling Hall
  • Science and Media Museum Community event, MAPA, Coates Street
  • Science and Media Museum Community event, Laisterdyke Community Hub
  • GDIF Festival, London
  • Bradford Museums, Industrial Museum
  • National Trust, Wentworth Castle Gardens

Access

Mind the Gap has created an access synopsis for people with learning disabilities and autism and Access Champion, Vicky Ackroyd has recorded an Audio Described introduction to the show to help set the scene for visually impaired audiences. You can access these using the links below or by speaking to one of our stewards at each performance.

Access Synopsis Audio Described Introduction