The Australian Jewish News
June 20, 2011
WHEN David Bardas was forced into early retirement 15 years ago, the former Sportsgirl/Sportscraft chief executive confronted the age-old dilemma of what to do next.
So he took up the pursuit of writing poetry in his backyard shed. It was something his late father-in-law, Victor Smorgon, one of the country’s greatest industrialists, didn’t quite understand.
“It’s one of the family jokes,” recalls Bardas. “[Victor] said, ‘What are you doing?’ and I said, ‘I’m writing’. And he said, ‘Yes, but what are you doing?’ … [To him], writing wasn’t doing something.”
That didn’t deter Bardas. He carried on with his newfound passion and now at age 73, his first play, Home for Lunch, written with Rebecca Lister, premiered at Chapel Off Chapel in the Melbourne suburb of Prahran last week.
With a cast led by Dennis Coard and Margot Knight, the play is a blend of comedy and drama as it explores one man’s struggle with adapting to his new retired lifestyle where identity is lost, relationships are strained and people struggle with the questions around getting older and the unknown.
Asked if the play is autobiographical, Bardas is coy. “I can’t say it’s exactly autobiographical, but writers have to be influenced by what they have experienced.”
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What he will say is that the play is “funny and serious” and about “personal space”.
“When I tell contemporary women, in particular, what it’s about, they just nod their head and say ‘yes’”, elaborates Bardas, who was married to Sandra Smorgan for 46 years until her death in 2007.
“You come into your wife’s space and you have to be careful not to crowd the person. First, you have to realise that your life has changed. You’ve changed; she’s changed; and all of a sudden, you are thrown back together again. So that takes a bit of working out. I figured out a routine of keeping out of the house.
“On the positive side, you come home for lunch, and you’ve got freedom. You don’t have to front up for work or have that responsibility. But it’s what you do with that time and space. You don’t want to go into a vacuum.”
Bardas is quick to stress, however, that it’s not meant to be a parable. “I’m not trying to tell people what to do.”
For Bardas, it has been an interesting journey to get to this point. At the age of 22, he joined the family business after the sudden death of his father, Morris, in 1956 and quickly proved to have a deft touch in retail fashion.
He built Sportsgirl into an iconic chain with 144 retail outlets and 3000 staff and brands including Aywon, Crestknit, David Lawrence and Elle B.
Then in the 1990s, the economic climate turned sour. He was forced to step down and the company was sold off. Not one to be idle, Bardas kept himself busy writing and dedicating himself to various worthy causes.
He served as president of the Gawler Foundation, a non-denominational charity that provides support for people suffering from illnesses such as cancer and multiple sclerosis, and had a stint as a City of Melbourne councillor in 1996-97.
As part of the United Israel Appeal of Victoria, he personally funded $100,000 towards Net@Project in Lod and Ramle, which helps Israeli youth from high-risk backgrounds.
Most recently, he funded the operating costs of an inner-city home in Melbourne that hosts vulnerable young people as part of the Lighthouse Foundation.
Reflecting on his retirement thus far, Bardas says he feels he has taken advantage of his time, “counts his blessings” and continues to write every day.
Did he ever convince his father-in-law about his writing pursuits?
“I ended up writing a book about him. It was called Insight Victor,” he muses. “I gave it to him as a birthday present. It was a lot of his sayings over the years.
“The only feedback I got from him was, ‘That’s only your opinion.’ He was bullet proof.”
Home for Lunch is at Chapel Off Chapell, 12 Little Chapel Street, Prahran until Sunday, July 3. Bookings: (03) 8290 7000 and www.chapeloffchapel.com.au.
REPORT: Chantal Abitbol
PHOTO: Playwright David Bardas
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