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Bradford-based theatre company Slung Low are taking over Hall Ings Car Park on the nights of July 26th, 27th and 28th 2007 for their latest production, They Only Come at Night. Helped by the performers, digital projection and music, the audience will be asked to walk the line between reality and fantasy.

Eager to find out more, we've been along to Bradford's Theatre in the Mill to meet actors Tom Bidwell, Richard Warburton and Daniel Mallaghan. Needless to say, they don't want to give the game away.

And, if you are still thinking this sounds like one of those Murder Mystery evenings, Richard says you should think again: "Until we are into the thick of it we're never really quite sure what's going to come out of the other end but it should be a completely different experience."

Tom also believes the audience might be very surprised by the experience: "You won't be forced into anything but you'll be more involved than when you go to see a normal piece of theatre. You'll be stood in a space with the main performance going on all around you...The idea is to create a quite unsettling experience but in a safe environment. It's designed to play on your fears." Expect to meet at least one 'bogey man' somewhere along the way!

Central to the performance are three monologues written by Mark Catley, Matthew David Scott and Jodie Marshall which the audience - who will go through the performance in groups of three - will be able to hear on headphones. Richard explains: "There's a lot of dark stuff going on around the murder. The three writers have all got different styles and you piece it together. Each person will only get one monologue and at the end, hopefully, everyone will have had a different experience which they can share. It'll be like a jigsaw, each person will have a jigsaw piece and it will make some sense if you've only got one of the stories, but it will make more sense if you get the second and the third bit."

But why are they using this car park as their 'theatre', even if it is Tom's favourite! Daniel says: "It's quite a sparse space and a multi-storey car park at night time is quite an eerie place in itself." For Richard it's not that surprising: "It's always there in films, isn't it? The going-back-to-the-car-park-at-night. I suppose it's playing on fears that are already there."

Asked what they want people to take away from the performance all three actors shout: "Be scared!" Richard adds: "It's like all good theatre. You hope something is going to settle there and it will be still with you a couple of days later. Hopefully it's something you won't be able to shake off quite easily."

This is not the first Slung Low production to take place in Bradford city centre. Last year the company staged 1139 Miles in an empty building in Centenary Square and members of the public were just invited to turn up. Daniel says: "It had the same ethos. It's all about your own interpretation of events and how you piece them together."

Tom, Richard and Daniel are very pleased to be part of the very first STIR festival. Daniel says it's great to see new faces doing new things: "It's exactly what the Festival ethos should be. Whether it comes off is another thing but there's no reason to suggest it won't." And for the actors too it will be something of a new experience as they work with stuntmen and Parkour performers to create their own very special bit of theatre.

So are city centre happenings, car parks and empty shops the shape of theatre to come? Richard, like Daniel, is a member of Theatre in the Mill's resident company Lost Dog. He says: "I don't think drama has to get out there but it's really nice when it does. I think there's just as much scope for studio and 'black box' [minimalist] theatre, I think everything has its time and place. But it's always nice to do something different. It's the spice of life."Μύ

They Only Come at Night is at the NCP Car Park, Hall Ings from July 26th to 28th at 8pm, 9pm, 10pm and 11pm. Places are limited - email lucy@slunglow.org with your telephone number, saying when you would like to attend.