And Miss Reardon Drinks a Little
by Paul Zindel
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The story surrounds three sisters: Catherine, an alcoholic; Anna, a hypochondriac and Ceil, an attention-starved socialite. Paul Zindel's dark comedy explores the relationship between three very different sisters after the death of their mother in the early 1960s. Having been abandoned by their father in early childhood, Catherine, Ceil and Anna Reardon were raised in a small apartment by their mother. The three ladies are educated and become members of their local school community. Anna show more Reardon becomes a chemistry teacher, Catherine Reardon the assistant principal and Ceil (Reardon) Adams is the superintendent of schools. The scene of the play is in the Reardon family apartment ... Several months of caring for her sick mother only to see her pass has left Anna suffering a severe nervous breakdown. She has become a complete hypochondriac, obsessed with animals and rabies. She is also on an extended break from school for allegedly molesting a male student. Catherine's reaction to both her mother's death and her sister's ailment has been to drink a little. She is consistently drunk throughout the show. Ceil did not have any sort of contact with the family while her mother was suffering, but rather ran off to marry her sister Catherine's boyfriend, Edward Adams (who never appears on stage). Ceil has come to the Reardon home to coax Catherine into having Anna committed ... Catherine refuses this demand, and Ceil essentially abandons the two women to take care of each other. --Wikipedia.com. show lessTags
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Member Reviews
A difficult work, full of angst and anger. Three sisters, all working in the same school system, come together to try to resolve the problem that rose with the break down of the youngest. The story develops well, and introduces a strange and unpleasant couple who stop by to pay their respects (mostly to get a look at the "nut") and end up in a tell-all session that exposes the peculiarities of even those with seemingly normal lives. Zindel rips the facade off to let us look underneath into the simmering, festering witches brew of family life; the result can be painful. Zindel never fails to push buttons.
Growing up in the 1970s Paul Zindel was a staple author in my life. I read all of his books that were available in the library at the time. I had never read until now anything that he had written for adults, and had to scour the decks of the Central branch of the Brooklyn library for this one. It probably has not been taken out in years.
I enjoyed it as I have a very high tolerance for reading or watching a film with loads of fighting and bickering, perhaps that is the reason I love the film and play ' Carnage ' so much. This play just like Carnage takes place all in one room and it is more or less non stop barbs, sarcasm, bickering, bitterness and resentment between the 5 main people in the play.
A
I enjoyed it as I have a very high tolerance for reading or watching a film with loads of fighting and bickering, perhaps that is the reason I love the film and play ' Carnage ' so much. This play just like Carnage takes place all in one room and it is more or less non stop barbs, sarcasm, bickering, bitterness and resentment between the 5 main people in the play.
A
Possibly the first American play with a neurotic vegetarian character in it, this play places you in a 1970's Manhattan Apartment with two troubled sisters, one the aforementioned NVC, the other, a strong personalitied pitcher-o-cocktails swilling, raw chopped meat as finger food snacking high school teacher. The author seems to have a brilliant if wholly cynical knowledge of high school teachers which he has approached in a theater way, instead of the usual movie way. This is like Tom Stoppard does Ferris Bueller or David Mamet does The Breakfast Club. But darkly.
This play is a well-written story of three sisters and their unhappy life. There is both humor and pathos in the story. If I had not previously seen a good production of this play, I am not sure I would have gotten as much as I did from the page.
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Author Information
72+ Works 9,282 Members
Paul Zindel Born on Staten Island, New York, Zindel was raised by a single mother who pursued a variety of odd and mostly unsuccessful jobs and took in terminally ill patients to supplement the family income. Due to her eccentricity and restlessness, the mother moved the family from one apartment to another, making it difficult for Zindel to form show more lasting friendships. As a consequence, the boy lived in the world of his imagination, developing interests in both science and writing. Zindel majored in chemistry at Wagner College on Staten Island, completing both bachelors and masters degrees. During this period he also took a creative-writing course offered by the playwright Edward Albee. After college he worked briefly as a technical writer for a chemical company and then discovered a more fulfilling vocation as a teacher of chemistry and physics at a Staten Island high school. It was during this period in the early 1960s that Zindel was able to develop his potential as a playwright by drawing on his own background as well as the experiences of his young students. The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds premiered at the Alley Theater in Houston in 1965, was presented in a condensed version on television the following year, and finally opened off-Broadway at the Mercer-O'Casey Theater in 1970. Because of a fire in the theater, the play was moved, with a new cast, to the New Theater on Broadway, where it ran for a total of 819 performances. In addition to being enormously popular, Gamma Rays earned in 1970 an Obie Award as the best play of the season, the New York Drama Critics Circle Award as the best American play, and the Vernon Rice Drama Desk Award for most promising playwright. In 1971 the play was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in Drama. Gamma Rays is the story of an embittered, half-mad widow, Beatrice Hunsdorfer; her teenaged daughters, Ruth and Tillie; and Nanny, a decrepit old woman who boards with them. The family lives in chaos, with Beatrice dealing out petty vengeance to everyone. Nanny has been abandoned by her daughter. Ruth is wanton, untidy, and subject to seizures. Tillie, however, has become interested in science and enters her marigold experiment in the science fair; by exposing the marigold seeds to radiation, she shows that some produce normal plants, others produce mutations with beautiful double blooms, while still others die. The metaphor, of course, is that Tillie has emerged from her chaotic environment as a beautiful and whole person, a human "double bloom." Zindel's other plays include And Miss Reardon Drinks a Little (1971), The Secret Affairs of Mildred Wild(1973), Let Me Hear You Whisper (1973), and Ladies at the Alamo(1975). While these plays continue to show Zindel's skill in writing excellent roles for women, none of them have matched the critical and popular success of Gamma Rays. Since the late 1960s, Zindel has also written several novels for young adults. The Pigman (1968), which is about a lonely widower and two destructive teenagers, has sold more than 1 million copies. His other novels include My Darling, My Hamburger (1969), I Never Loved Your Mind (1970), Pardon Me, You're Stepping on My Eyeball (1976), Confessions of a Teenage Baboon (1977), and The Undertaker's Gone Bananas (1978). As in Gamma Rays, these works display not only a penchant for grotesque humor but an uncanny awareness of the problems of teenagers. Zindel's works, which also include several screenplays, explore the themes of loneliness, escapism, and eccentricity. His best works are humorous, perceptive, and warm; they present an affirmation of life emerging from desperate and grotesque circumstances. He is especially noted for his excellent women's roles, which has helped sustain him as a best-selling playwright for school and community groups. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- And Miss Reardon Drinks a Little
- Original publication date
- 1971
- People/Characters
- Miss Reardon
- Important places
- Manhattan, New York, New York, USA; New York, New York, USA
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 63
- Popularity
- 494,302
- Reviews
- 4
- Rating
- (3.57)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper
- ISBNs
- 3
- ASINs
- 3
