Talisman Theatre, Kenilworth

‘While the International Amateur Theatre Association is in conference at Leamington Spa in the week commencing September 2, the Talisman Theatre, Kenilworth, present a little-known play “The Pacifists” by Henry Arthur Jones. Conference delegates from many countries will see the play on Friday ... Its message, warning of the folly of appeasement, is surprisingly topical today, though wrapped up in a series of comic events in a village. A bully gets away with more and more outrageous behaviour while the village worthies meet and meet again, always deciding that it will be wise to take no action’ (Coventry Standard, 2 August 1963). 'It is enterprising to exhume an almost forgotten play, but “The Pacifists” is a poor product of the playwright’s later years, a laboured satire on peaceful ottitude [sic – attitudes] set in the early part of the century but produced in the middle of World War I ... The point of interest is Mrs Peebody’s fascinated response to brute strength, which is, perhaps, psychologically perceptive. There is also an foretaste of black, or sick, comedy in the plight of the old lady kept in a damp cellar for days and fed through the bars (“And it’s a clay soil..”)’ (Birmingham Mail 3 September 1963). 'The author’s comedy has, in parts, that sense of the absurd which characterises the work of Ionescu. For instance, Peabody’s mother is locked in a coal cellar for three days while food is fed to her through a grating. As long as she gets a regular supply of muffins Peabody is quite happy. It is to the credit of the Talisman company that they succeed in keeping the whole fantastic thing bubbling along merrily, as all the action occurs off-stage and the humour of the situations has to be brought out in the dialogue' (Coventry Evening Telegraph, 4 September 1963).