A spokesman said: “Non-violent direct action (NVA) has been part of the Quaker way for over 300 years. It has always taken many forms from the power of the pen, through to practical measures verging on the subversive, and the sheer ingenuity of creative nonviolence.

“Its purpose has always been clear: to challenge injustice and inequality, even that which is embedded within law; to oppose war; to speak truth to power. To do these things it may be necessary to unsettle and stimulate, or to put it another way, it’s sometimes necessary to make ‘beautiful trouble’.

“And The Beat Goes On brings together Quaker men and women who have all in their way made waves and rocked the establishment boat, including the very early abolitionists, the first known woman hunger striker, a Palestinian Quaker peace activist, and the Trident Ploughshares movement.

“Told through sketches and monologues, And The Beat Goes On treats its range of characters with a combination of admiration and playful irreverence, in the true spirit of NVA.”