Okehampton’s drama charity wowed crowds with their most recent performance at the D’Arts Fest, a Devon event which promotes creativity in adults with learning disabilities.

Actors from the Get Changed Theatre Company, which provides opportunities for people with learning disabilities to get involved in arts and drama projects, put on a special performance with a Royal Variety Performance theme to the delight of the audience.

Get Changed Theatre’s administrator Sunita Chauhan, said: ‘The actors absolutely loved it. They absolutely loved performing. We didn’t have many weeks to put it together. They just loved being part of the event and they had a nice time.

Get Changed Theatre holds workshops on a regular basis for their members and at one of the meetings organisers asked actors to come up with ideas for a performance at the D’Arts Fest, which was held in Ide this year.

Ms Chauhan said: ‘They had the idea in one of the workshops. Someone said jacket potato and beans as a suggestion for the next performance and it grew from there.’

Thus JP and the Beans was born as a specially-written performance by workshop organisers Jules Walker, Penny Martyn-Smith and Peter Smith.

The play tells the story of the fictional band JP and the Beans whose Royal Variety performance was nearly ruined by some rogue monkeys who finally stepped up to save the show when the band’s lead singer was injured.

This is the first big performance by Get Changed since the group put on a Charlie and the Chocolate Factory-themed play at the end of last year, one of its first since the outbreak of Covid-19.

The play was performed in Okehampton’s Charter Hall in November last year and told the story of a biscuit billionaire trying to find an heir to take over his business, and, as in all Get Changed productions, the performance included music, dance and comedy.

Much has changed since then though. At the time of the drama group’s November performance some covid restrictions were still in place and the organisation asked audience members to show evidence of a negative PCR or lateral flow test on arrival, wear masks throughout the performance and not attend if they showed any covid symptoms.

The group may not have been battling the coronavirus this time but the actors were certainly battling the summer heat, as they danced and performed in thick, heavy and hot monkey costumes.

‘It was very funny and all the performers did really well in their hot monkey costumes. It was well-received by family and friends,’ said Ms Chauhan.

Get Changed Theatre will now start thinking about their next performance, set to open in October, which organisers and performers plan to base on a Halloween theme.

‘I don’t want to give too much away,’ said Ms Chauhan. ‘But we planning a small October piece with a Halloween theme.

‘We have to await funding and now are in the process so it depends if we get funding. If we do it will be a better show and if not it will be smaller but there will be something in October.’

Get Changed Theatre was established in 1995 to provide adults with learning disabilities in West and Mid Devon with the opportunity to get involved in arts and drama projects to challenge public attitudes towards disability and raise the profile of the disabled community.

Since the charity was formed it has tripled in size having started out with only seven members.

The group now includes 21 performers, two leaders running weekly workshops and 17 extra for support during productions. There are also five support workers, one workshop volunteer, six management team members and one project co-ordinator.

The charity also works to build confidence and self-esteem and improve the mental health of the participants by getting them involved in dance, music and drama productions, big and small.

The D’Arts Fest started in 2010 as a small charity organising weekend creative workshops for people with learning disabilities close to Exeter and since then has run many events offering people the chance to try out a range of different activities including dance, drama, animation, pottery and art

For more information visit www.getchanged.com or for more information about D’Arts Fest go to www.dartsdisabilityarts.org.uk/