Theatre company pledges to be a 'home for all'
BBCAn amateur dramatics group started by a husband and wife team say they want more people with disabilities to try acting.
Richard Prior, who has muscular dystrophy, founded The Whodunnit Theatre Company with his wife Kayley in 2019 and said performing "changed his life".
Mr Prior said the Bristol group is a "home for all" regardless of acting experience or ability and that it can be "off-putting" to join a new group, especially when you have additional needs.
The company is currently rehearsing its play for 2025, Blackadder II, for which it received special permission from original screenwriter Richard Curtis.
Diagnosed with muscular dystrophy aged nine, Mr Prior said drama had given him "hope and enjoyment in life".
He said the group wanted "to give everybody an opportunity", adding "performance is important but we're friends and we have a laugh and that's the most important thing".
He will be playing the role of Lord Percy in this year's production and said "it's going to be worth the ticket money alone to see me dressed as him".
Adam Elms has previously worked as a professional actor and will lead the performance as Edmund Blackadder in this year's show.
He has been partially-sighted since birth and is almost blind in one eye, with 35% vision in the other.
Mr Elms said the company had been "brilliant" at providing what he needed.
Excited about the forthcoming performance, he said Rowan Atkinson - who played Blackadder in the popular sitcom - is a "comic hero" to him.
The production will be at the Warmley Community Centre from Thursday to Saturday.