A Herefordshire-based learning disability arts project has performed to their largest-ever audience with a play about the value of orchards created and performed by students at Echo’s About Face Theatre Company.
The Orchard Art project, run by the Bulmer Foundation, delivered two performances of the play, called ‘Five Fruit-trees make an Orchard’, which features 17th century prose describing the social, environmental, economic and spiritual values of orchards.
The world premiere of the play took place at the University of Oxford Botanic Garden – the oldest in the country – in front of an audience including some of the most important plant and history academics in the world, representatives of Oxfordshire orchard groups, people with learning disabilities in Oxfordshire and many members of the Bulmer family.
A subsequent performance by the group of actors with learning disabilities took place at Lyde Court near Hereford, and was watched by many of Herefordshire’s care commissioners and the Lord-Lieutenants of Oxfordshire and Herefordshire.
The Bulmer Foundation will work with others to build upon the shared interest and insights that the performances have fostered.
For more information on the Orchard Art project visit http://www.bulmerfoundation.org.uk/projects/orchard-art
