Delivery boy turned director

Thirty-five years after its premiere, And Miss Reardon Drinks a Little returns to the Darlinghurst Theatre this month for another run.

Nicholas Papademetriou, who got his first acting gig as the delivery boy in Miss Reardon, has returned to direct the piece.

He admits it is somewhat creepy coming back but it is a testament to the play’s quality of writing, and it’s incredible to realise how little our social concerns have changed in that time.

It tells the story of three embittered and slightly crazy sisters who come together over dinner one night to discuss their dissatisfaction with teaching and life in general. A night of psychological warfare ensues. Delving into their concerns about the hurtling pace of life, technology and the threats posed to young people, the play is as much about sibling rivalry as it is about wider social occurrences.

Papademetriou sums it up as a play about how the world is driving us crazy.

The play was written to make a comment on contemporary society and it’s interesting to see that most of the themes are still relevant now -“ the way the world is moving too fast, how technology is moving too fast and how kids are being exposed to too much. So it’s been pretty easy to update, he told Sydney Star Observer.

Papademetriou, who has worked extensively in TV and theatre, including last year’s stand-out Company B production, Anna in the Tropics, said taking on the piece as a director had been a delight.

My first paid acting gig was actually in Miss Reardon. I got 16 bucks a night to play the hot young delivery boy, he said.

Coming back to it now as the director is an absolute pleasure. It’s definitely a piece that all of us who worked on the original feel warmly about -“ everyone from the original cast is coming to the opening night actually.

It is a bit daunting, I must admit, and I’m really trying to make sure that this is a relevant experience for people, that it is a piece of theatre that thrills, chills and is most of all theatrical.

It’s quite stylised, it’s a bit Virginia Woolf-like really, with three twisted sisters talking in witty barbs, and a bit of light comic relief thrown in. It’s Virginia Woolf meets Will & Grace actually.

And Miss Reardon Drinks a Little plays at the Darlinghurst Theatre, 19 Greenknowe Ave, 29 May-21 June. Tickets $30. Bookings: 8356 9987 or at www.darlinghursttheatre.com.