NOT many amateur drama groups get to perform at the 1,600-seat Cliffs Pavilion, but Mods are no ordinary band of thespians.

The group – which presents the musical Pretty Petals tomorrow – has grown steadily since its launch in 2006.

Mods is part of Southend Mencap, the charity for those with learning disabilities.

Pretty Petals, with its 60- strong cast, costumes from the 1914 era, and full complement of song and dance routines, is a demanding production.

Then consider that every single cast member is faced with disability, in some cases severe.

“Audiences are going to leave the Cliffs P a v i l i o n , W e s t c l i f f , knowing they have witnessed something absolutely fabulous and truly amazing,” says Marc McOwens, general manager of Mencap Southend.

Writer and director Andrew Watson says: “Everyone works tremendously hard to get it right, and the cast are fabulous.”

Pretty Petals is the story of the First World War, seen through the eyes of the fruit and flower sellers and porters inLondon’s Convent Garden market.

The story was written in skeleton form by Andrew, a long-serving Mencap volunteer. He also wrote the lyrics to the songs, which are set to familiar tunes.

The song and dance number routines were then worked out, in time-honoured musical theatre style, during rehearsals and workshops.

Andrew sits at the side of the stage, narrating the story, and delivering each cast member their lines as the story p r o g r e s s e s .

Some cast members repeat the lines, others ad lib.

Andrew’s partner and fellow volunteer Georgie Gibbs, who designs and makes the costumes, has watched the process unfold.

She says: “Each performer is given material that suits their abilities. In some cases, where an actor feels they can’t handle the lines, they are given a mime routine.”

The real magic ingredient is undoubtedly the music.

“There are some members who can’t or won’t say a word in rehearsal. These are people who have difficulty with the spoken word. But they go on stage, they hear the music, and something just takes them over,” says Georgie.

She says the performers have a real insight into the Great War, and what it meant for the people caught up in it. “They seem to have some sort of special understanding about the hopes and tragedy of war.

They really move you emotionally. Audiences are going to be laughing and crying and laughing again,”

she says.

Andrew and Georgie set up Mods in 2000, at Mencap’s old base in the Maybrook day centre.

Andrew says: “We had this idea that a drama group would work. We didn’t know of anyone else doing this sort of thing at Mencap, or any other organisation.”

Andrew and Georgie started with a core of 12 Mencap attendees. “Word spread, and we found that more and more people were turning up for our meetings,” says Georgie.

They have a special understanding about the tragedy of war .

Pretty Petals Cliffs Pavilion, Tomorrow 6.30pm Tickets £10 (concessions £7.50) Å 01702 351135