Witty one-liners bring light relief to the poignant story of three feuding Jewish widows meeting each month to visit their husbands’ graves in Ian Dickens’ production of The Cemetery Club.

Shirley-Anne Field, Anita Harris and Anne Charleston skilfully got the laughs from a small but receptive first-night audience, which loved the joke about old men chasing girls being compared to dogs chasing cars but not being able to drive them.

Most of the humour is generated by the man-hungry, flamboyant Lucille, superbly played by Field. She showed great comic timing and gusto as a frustrated woman anxious to find a replacement for her departed Harry.

Lucille and the straight-laced Doris (Charleston) are alarmed when widower Sam (Peter Ellis) dates the practical Ida (delightfully played by Harris).

They tell Sam not to pursue the infatuated Ida, but this causes him to switch his attentions to the younger Mildred (Debbie Norman).

Ivan Menchell’s thought-provoking play lacks action and relies on one central theme – whether the three widows should stop their regular cemetery visits and look for new relationships.

It is set in a New York living room and a Forest Hills cemetery, the set for which is too cramped. There are some inconsistent American-Jewish accents and Ellis shows little emotion when his character visits Ida’s home to state his feelings for her – something overlooked by director Andrew Lynford.

But Lynford succeeds in getting the cast to produce some touching, heartfelt moments in a grave situation.