The Cemetery Club

by Ivan Menchell

Ivan MenchellComedyCharacters: 1 male, 5 femaleMultiple SetsThree Jewish widows meet once a month for tea before going to visit their husband's graves. Ida is sweet tempered and ready to begin a new life, Lucille is a feisty embodiment of the girl who just wants to have fun, and Doris is priggish and judgmental, particularly when Sam the butcher enters the scene. He meets the widows while visiting his wife's grave. Doris and Lucille squash the budding romance between Sam and

Genres: Plays, Theatre, Drama

127 pages, Paperback

First published December 31, 1998

Reviews

[Anthony Peter]

Play for 4F, 1M
Set in Jewish New York, if that’s an acceptable phrase. 3 senior citizen widows meet regularly to visit their husbands’ graves. They have different takes on the significance of their doing so. One is tired of it and is flagrantly out to catch a new man, another desperately misses her man, and the third is between the others, lonely, but managing, and not expecting to enjoy more than a modicum of small pleasures in her widowhood.

Enter Sam, the local butcher, a widower, not unkeen to go on dates. He’s looking for good company as much as anything else.

And from this modest scenario a very good play develops. The widows argue and fall out, Sam, simply by being there, upsets the steady tenour of their lives, and things come to their various heads following their acting as bridesmaids to another friend at her latest wedding.

Great dialogue – New York Jewish accents pretty much essential for it to be fully effective – plenty of tension and comedy and sensitive moments, and a tragi-comic ending of great poignancy.

[Barry Haworth]

I read this play as one of the community theatre groups in my city was planning to put it on. This is a charming play about three Jewish widows who make regular visits to the graves of their husbands

[Brian McCann]

Even with its stereotypes and predictability, I enjoyed this play. Despite a short Broadway run, this play has flourished for decades in community theater.

[Dee Dee OConnor]

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this play. Widowhood, friendship, moving on. Tender, sweet, and funny, I had a hard time putting it down.

[HC]

Performed in Te Aroha November 2019.

[Max]

I know this was a great play because it made me, a middle-aged white guy, feel an emotion by the end.

[Kiko Montanari]

2.5

[Jordan]

I think I am about 40 years to young to really appreciate this one. It was cute and I love the comedic banter of a group of old Jewish women, but it kind of lagged. There was so clearly a point and and B point B but Menchell really took the long way getting there. It kind of lagged. It was sweet, tho.

[Oriana Havlicek]

It's a cute corky fun play. This is definitely made for a older audience, but it's quite beautiful how Menchell is able to bring these three Jewish women to life. I can definitely see myself putting a scene up for a workshop.

[Alison]

Life affirming, but I wouldn't actually want to work on this for eight weeks.

[Patrick Neylan]

Three Jewish ladies meet at the graves of their ex-husbands to share stories about life and love. There's some standard American-Jewish humour although the pace does drag a bit.

[Carolyn]

Really liked it. Good characters, funny dialog, well-constructed play with thoughtful themes.