Early on Daphna is flaunting her commitment to being Jewish over her male cousins.  Before Liam has even arrived, she is loquacious and assertive, talking nineteen to the dozen and not really endearing her to us.  She has changed her name from Diana to Daphna.  In the programme, the playwright, Joshua Harmon says he loves Daphna.  A friend had said to him, “If Daphna were a man, no-one would have a problem with her.”  Harmon continues, “Maybe some people are bothered by a fiercely intelligent woman who speaks her mind freely and unapologetically and isn’t afraid to fight for what she wants.” 

The other reason for dispute here, as often happens at funerals, is the inheritance.  Poppy was in the concentration camps and had a number tattooed on his wrist.  He managed to hide through his internment a gold Jewish symbol of Life, the Chai, by keeping it under his tongue.  Naturally, as the most devout of the grandchildren, Daphna feels she is entitled to have it.  Poppy has not bequeathed his chai to anyone in particular but thought that they would decide themselves. 

It is not the gold which is of value but the back story, the piece of family history, as to how Poppy managed to keep this piece of jewellery and how he used it to propose to his wife when he didn’t have a ring. 

Liam, the self styled Bad Jew, arrives late with inevitably in tow his Shiksa girlfriend curiously named Melody (Olivia Le Andersen).  She looks cute and pretty, has a blonde bob and Daphna compliments her barrette, which we would call a slide.  For Daphna, Liam’s non-Jewish fiancée is an afront to her desire to perpetuate Jewishness. As is his study of Japanese. And so the really bitter arguments evolve on stage, and we laugh and laugh at all this pain.