The Talisman Theatre: centre stage in Kenilworth for 70 years

So says says June Malcolm, who joined the Talisman 20 years ago after being introduced to the group by her husband Graham Underhill, who had already been a member for around ten years before that.

“Everybody does everything for free. But we all stay because it’s a great thrill to feel you have had a part in putting something on the stage that looks good, sounds good and that people are applauding.

“It feels good just to broaden the outlook of people who go to the theatre as we don’t just do comedies, but also thought-provoking plays.”

Since its beginnings as a play-reading group made up of employees at the Rover factory in Coventry in 1942, the Talisman has brought to audiences ten plays every year, with the forthcoming production of Shakespeare’s Richard III taking the total to 677.

And with on average around 700 people filling seats per month, the small theatre, nestled in a quiet residential area, continues to be popular.

But it has only been at its Barrow Road site since 1969. With the memory of the horrific Blitz that blighted Coventry in 1941 very fresh in the minds of the founding members, they were keen to be out of the city and found a home at an old skin-drying shed at a tannery in Warwick Road, Kenilworth - nearwhere Waitrose supermarket now stands.

It was here that the group stayed for 20 years until town centre redevelopments forced them off the site in 1964 and they had to endure five tough years of fundraising before they managed to obtain land at the current site and build their new home there.

So it was after this determined amateur dramatics team that Talisman Square, in the heart of the town, was named.

June says: “This anniversary week is a way of celebrating that we have been around for 70 years and how fantastic that is. The idea is to celebrate the theatre’s community.

“Creating a festival like this is a lot of work, but the work is only what our members are already doing all the time. There are so many talents around.”

Being nestled in the middle of people’s homes is something of which members are only too aware - and, while negotiations with Warwick District Council about a potential move to Smalley Place continue, they hope to welcome their neighours to take part in celebrations.

June says: “We are going to deliver leaflets to our neighbours in and around Barrow Road because they have to put up with us being there and we would like to say to them, come and see what we do. They are part of our community too.”

Completely self-funding, the theatre’s members own the company as well as the site itself and the company now has almost 400 members - the oldest of which is Jo Lord, whose husband was Harry Lord, one of the founding group.

There is also a youth theatre group, whose members are as young as nine, but, says June, “We do hope to welcome some more younger members.

“The kids in the youth group really enjoy it and many of them move on to the adult group.”

And has the theatre changed during her 20 years of involvement?

“In lots of ways, it is very much the same as it was back then. The shame about theatre today is that people tend to want to put more importance on bigger audience figures than anything else, and television and cinema have meant that every amateur dramatics group has experienced a drop off in these figures during the last 20 years. But the goodwill of our members and their enthusiasm to give up hours to put on the best possible shows that they can is what keeps the Talisman going.

“The Talisman has been here for 70 years. There is a core membership of people who work so hard for the place. I think it is safe to say that we are here to stay.”