One For The Road
Encyclopedia
One for the Road is an overtly-political one-act play
by Harold Pinter
, which premiered at Lyric Studio, Hammersmith
, in London, on 13 March 1984, and was first published by Methuen in 1984.
governments" (Rich), was inspired by Pinter's visit to Turkey with American playwright Arthur Miller
as vice presidents of International Pen
and his "rage" at talking to two young Turkish women who did not believe that torture of innocent political prisoners occurred or that, if it did, the victims may have deserved it and suffered less than Pinter did about it (13–14).
As he explains further in his interview with Nicholas Hern, "A Play and Its Politics", conducted in February 1985 and published in 1985 in the revised and reset Eyre Methuen hardback (5–23) and in 1986 in the Grove Evergreen paperback (7–23) and illustrated with production photographs taken at the premiere by Ivan Kyncl, torture of political prisoners in countries like Turkey "is systematic" (13). Due to the tolerance and even support of such human rights abuses by the governments of Western countries like the United States, Pinter emphasizes (prophetically it turned out given later revelations about extraordinary rendition), One for the Road shows how such abuses might happen in or at the direction of these democracies too.
In this play the actual physical violence takes place off stage; Pinter indirectly dramatizes such terror and violence through verbal and non-verbal allusions to off-stage acts of repeated rape of Gila, physical mutilation of Victor, and the ultimate murder of their son, Nicky. The effects of the violence that takes place off stage are, however, portrayed verbally and non-verbally on stage.
Though in the interview, Pinter says that he himself "always find[s] agitprop
insulting and objectionable […] now, of course I'm doing the same thing" (18). He observes that "when the play was done in New York, as the second part of a triple-bill [Other Places, directed by Alan Schneider, at the Manhattan Theatre Club
(1984)], a goodly percentage of people left the theatre when it was over. They were asked why they were going and invariably they said, 'We know all about this. We don't need to be told.' Now, I believe that they were lying. They did not know about it and did not want to know" (18).
describes in his review of a performance at the New Ambassadors Theatre
, "In a long, silent prelude we see Nicolas psyching himself up for the ensuing ritual."
When Nicolas confronts Gila, he refers to sexual torture of her that has taken and will continue to take place off stage: "Have they [my soldiers] been raping you? […] How many times? How many times have you been raped? Pause. How many times?" […] How many times have you been raped? (70–71).
Though Nicolas chats in an ostensibly-innocuous manner with Victor's and Gila's seven-year-old son Nicky about whether the child "Would like to be a soldier" when he grows up (58), he bullies even the little boy: "You like soldiers. Good. But you spat at my soldiers and you kicked them. You attacked them." (58). After Nicky says, "I didn't like those soldiers", Nicolas replies menacingly: "They don't like you either, my darling" (59).
Victor's and Gila's specific "offences" (if there are any) go unnamed. Nicolas accuses Gila of mentioning her father when she responds to a question about where she met her husband by saying that she met him in "a room", in her "father's room"; Nicolas exaggerates this mere mention as if she were "to defame, to debase, the memory of [her dead] father"—"a wonderful man […] a man of honour" whom he claims to have "loved […] as if he were my own father" (66).
In his final exchange with Victor, Nicolas' use of the past tense signifies that the soldiers have killed Nicky and portends his parents' similarly terrifying fate at their hands: "Your son. I wouldn't worry about him. He was a little prick" (79; italics added), leading to Pinter's final stage directions, as Victor "straightens and stares at" Nicolas, followed by "Silence" and "Blackout" (80).
Cast:
Production team:
)
Cast:
Production team:
directed. (27)
Production team:
Production team:
. One for the Road[: A Play]. London: Methuen, 1984. ISBN 0413560600 (10). ISBN 9780413560605 (13). (Hardcover.)
–––. One for the Road: With Production Photos by Ivan Kyncl and an Interview on the Play and Its Politics. Rev. and reset ed. London: Methuen, 1985. ISBN 0413583708 (10). ISBN 9780413583703 (13). ISBN 0413589501 (10). ISBN 9780413589507 (13). ["With illustrations and introduction first published … in 1985" (4). Includes "A Play and Its Politics: A Conversation between Harold Pinter and Nicholas Hern" (5-23).]
–––. One for the Road: With Production Photos by Ivan Kyncl and an Interview on the Play and Its Politics. New York: Grove Press
, 1986. ISBN 0394623630 (10). ISBN 9780394623634 (13). ISBN 0394545753 (10). ISBN 9780394545752 (13). (Evergreen paperback ed.) ("A Play and Its Politics: A Conversation between Harold Pinter and Nicholas Hern" (7–23) is dated February 1985. Includes "Postscript", by Harold Pinter, dated May 1995.) [Parenthetical references in the text are to this edition of the play. As Pinter uses three spaced periods for pauses in his dialogue, editorial ellipses of three unspaced periods are herein placed within brackets.]
Rich, Frank
. "Stage: Three by Pint(e)r". New York Times
. The New York Times Company
, 28 Apr. 1984. Web
. 9 Feb. 2009.
Play (theatre)
A play is a form of literature written by a playwright, usually consisting of scripted dialogue between characters, intended for theatrical performance rather than just reading. There are rare dramatists, notably George Bernard Shaw, who have had little preference whether their plays were performed...
by Harold Pinter
Harold Pinter
Harold Pinter, CH, CBE was a Nobel Prize–winning English playwright and screenwriter. One of the most influential modern British dramatists, his writing career spanned more than 50 years. His best-known plays include The Birthday Party , The Homecoming , and Betrayal , each of which he adapted to...
, which premiered at Lyric Studio, Hammersmith
Lyric Hammersmith
The Lyric Theatre, also known as the Lyric Hammersmith, is a theatre on King Street, in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, which takes pride in its original, "groundbreaking" productions....
, in London, on 13 March 1984, and was first published by Methuen in 1984.
Background
One for the Road, considered Pinter's "statement about the human rights abuses of totalitarianTotalitarianism
Totalitarianism is a political system where the state recognizes no limits to its authority and strives to regulate every aspect of public and private life wherever feasible...
governments" (Rich), was inspired by Pinter's visit to Turkey with American playwright Arthur Miller
Arthur Miller
Arthur Asher Miller was an American playwright and essayist. He was a prominent figure in American theatre, writing dramas that include plays such as All My Sons , Death of a Salesman , The Crucible , and A View from the Bridge .Miller was often in the public eye,...
as vice presidents of International Pen
International PEN
PEN International , the worldwide association of writers, was founded in London in 1921 to promote friendship and intellectual co-operation among writers everywhere....
and his "rage" at talking to two young Turkish women who did not believe that torture of innocent political prisoners occurred or that, if it did, the victims may have deserved it and suffered less than Pinter did about it (13–14).
As he explains further in his interview with Nicholas Hern, "A Play and Its Politics", conducted in February 1985 and published in 1985 in the revised and reset Eyre Methuen hardback (5–23) and in 1986 in the Grove Evergreen paperback (7–23) and illustrated with production photographs taken at the premiere by Ivan Kyncl, torture of political prisoners in countries like Turkey "is systematic" (13). Due to the tolerance and even support of such human rights abuses by the governments of Western countries like the United States, Pinter emphasizes (prophetically it turned out given later revelations about extraordinary rendition), One for the Road shows how such abuses might happen in or at the direction of these democracies too.
In this play the actual physical violence takes place off stage; Pinter indirectly dramatizes such terror and violence through verbal and non-verbal allusions to off-stage acts of repeated rape of Gila, physical mutilation of Victor, and the ultimate murder of their son, Nicky. The effects of the violence that takes place off stage are, however, portrayed verbally and non-verbally on stage.
Though in the interview, Pinter says that he himself "always find[s] agitprop
Agitprop
Agitprop is derived from agitation and propaganda, and describes stage plays, pamphlets, motion pictures and other art forms with an explicitly political message....
insulting and objectionable […] now, of course I'm doing the same thing" (18). He observes that "when the play was done in New York, as the second part of a triple-bill [Other Places, directed by Alan Schneider, at the Manhattan Theatre Club
Manhattan Theatre Club
Manhattan Theatre Club is a theater company located in New York City. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Lynne Meadow and Executive Producer Barry Grove, Manhattan Theatre Club has grown since its founding in 1970 from an Off-Off Broadway showcase into one of the country’s most acclaimed...
(1984)], a goodly percentage of people left the theatre when it was over. They were asked why they were going and invariably they said, 'We know all about this. We don't need to be told.' Now, I believe that they were lying. They did not know about it and did not want to know" (18).
Setting
The play takes place in "A room" in a house during the course of one day ("Morning", "Afternoon", and "Night"), but the location of the room is unspecified. The furniture in the room, a "desk" and a "machine" used as a telephone intercom, and the bars on the windows, as illustrated by the premiere production photographs, suggests that the room in a domestic house has been converted into an office and that the house functions as a prison (30 ff.) The use of some common English colloquial expressions (e.g., the titular "One for the Road" repeated by Nicolas regarding having another drink) implies that the action could take place in Great Britain or America, or another English-speaking country among "civilised" people (31).Synopsis
Victor and his wife Gila, who have obviously been tortured, as their "clothes" are "torn" and they are "bruised" (31, 61), and their seven-year old son, Nicky, are imprisoned in separate rooms of a house by a totalitarian regime represented by an officer named Nicolas. Though in control locally—"I can do absoluely anything I like" (33)—he is not the final arbiter of power, since he refers to outside sources to validate his actions: "Do you know the man who runs this country?" (47); "God speaks through me" (36, 40). But the play reveals that Nicolas is insecure and that he overcompensates by aggressive gestures and words, threatening both Victor and Gila with a peculiar gesture, waving and jabbing his "big finger" and his "little finger […] both at the same time" before their eyes (33, 71); while he tries to converse with Victor as if they were both "civilised" men, he stresses gratuitously that "Everyone respects me here" (36) and invents depraved fantasies of having sex with a menstruating Gila (46–47), even ruminating perversely that she has "fallen in love" with him (48–50). Pinter highlighted Nicolas' insecurities in his own performance of the role as directed by Robin Lefèvre in 2001, adding stage business at the start; as Michael BillingtonMichael Billington (critic)
Michael Keith Billington is a British author and arts critic. Drama critic of The Guardian since October 1971, he is "Britain's longest-serving theatre critic" and the author of biographical and critical studies relating to British theatre and the arts; most notably, he is the authorised...
describes in his review of a performance at the New Ambassadors Theatre
New Ambassadors Theatre
The Ambassadors Theatre , is a West End theatre located in West Street, near Cambridge Circus on the Charing Cross Road in the City of Westminster...
, "In a long, silent prelude we see Nicolas psyching himself up for the ensuing ritual."
When Nicolas confronts Gila, he refers to sexual torture of her that has taken and will continue to take place off stage: "Have they [my soldiers] been raping you? […] How many times? How many times have you been raped? Pause. How many times?" […] How many times have you been raped? (70–71).
Though Nicolas chats in an ostensibly-innocuous manner with Victor's and Gila's seven-year-old son Nicky about whether the child "Would like to be a soldier" when he grows up (58), he bullies even the little boy: "You like soldiers. Good. But you spat at my soldiers and you kicked them. You attacked them." (58). After Nicky says, "I didn't like those soldiers", Nicolas replies menacingly: "They don't like you either, my darling" (59).
Victor's and Gila's specific "offences" (if there are any) go unnamed. Nicolas accuses Gila of mentioning her father when she responds to a question about where she met her husband by saying that she met him in "a room", in her "father's room"; Nicolas exaggerates this mere mention as if she were "to defame, to debase, the memory of [her dead] father"—"a wonderful man […] a man of honour" whom he claims to have "loved […] as if he were my own father" (66).
In his final exchange with Victor, Nicolas' use of the past tense signifies that the soldiers have killed Nicky and portends his parents' similarly terrifying fate at their hands: "Your son. I wouldn't worry about him. He was a little prick" (79; italics added), leading to Pinter's final stage directions, as Victor "straightens and stares at" Nicolas, followed by "Silence" and "Blackout" (80).
Premiere: The Lyric Studio, Hammersmith – 1984 (13 March 1984)
|Victoria Station]]:)Cast:
- Alan BatesAlan BatesSir Alan Arthur Bates CBE was an English actor, who came to prominence in the 1960s, a time of high creativity in British cinema, when he demonstrated his versatility in films ranging from the popular children’s story Whistle Down the Wind to the "kitchen sink" drama A Kind of Loving...
(Nicolas) - Roger Lloyd PackRoger Lloyd PackRoger Lloyd-Pack is an English actor known for his roles in the TV shows The Vicar of Dibley, Only Fools and Horses and The Old Guys.-Career:...
(Victor) - Jenny Quayle (Gila)
- Stephen Kember or Felix Yates (Nicky)
Production team:
- Harold PinterHarold PinterHarold Pinter, CH, CBE was a Nobel Prize–winning English playwright and screenwriter. One of the most influential modern British dramatists, his writing career spanned more than 50 years. His best-known plays include The Birthday Party , The Homecoming , and Betrayal , each of which he adapted to...
, Director - Tim Bickerton, Designer
- Dave Horn, Lighting (27)
American premiere:
Other Places, Manhattan Theatre Club, New York City, April 1984|Victoria Station]] and A Kind of AlaskaA Kind of Alaska
A Kind of Alaska is a one-act play written in 1982 by Harold Pinter , the 2005 Nobel Laureate in Literature.-Summary:A middle-aged woman named Deborah, who has been in a comatose state for thirty years as a result of contracting sleeping sickness, awakes with a mind still that of a sixteen-year-old...
)
Cast:
- Kevin ConwayKevin ConwayKevin Conway is an American actor and film director.-Early life:Conway was born in New York City, the son of Helen Margaret , a sales representative, and James John Conway, a mechanic...
(Nicolas) - Greg Martyn (Victor)
- David George Polyak (Nicky)
- Caroline LagerfeltCaroline LagerfeltCaroline Eugenie "Carolyn" Lagerfelt is a French-born stage, film, and television actress of Swedish descent, long-based in the United States.-Early life and education:...
(Gila)
Production team:
- Alan SchneiderAlan SchneiderAlan Schneider was an American theatre director and mentor responsible for more than 100 theatre productions. In 1984 he was honored with a Drama Desk Special Award for serving a wide range of playwrights...
, Director - John Lee BeattyJohn Lee BeattyJohn Lee Beatty is an American scenic designer. He was born in Palo Alto, California and grew up in Claremont. His father was dean of students at Pomona College and his mother had also work in academia. While he was English major at Brown University, he also directed, wrote, acted and drew posters...
, Set design - Jess GoldsteinJess GoldsteinJess Goldstein is an American costume designer. He has designed over 30 Broadway shows, including Jersey Boys, Take Me Out and Proof. He received a Tony Award for Best Costume Design for his work on the play The Rivals, in 2005....
, Costume design - Rocky Greenberg, Lighting design
- Lynne MeadowLynne MeadowLynne Meadow is an American theatre producer and director and a college professor.A cum laude graduate of Bryn Mawr, Meadow attended the Yale School of Drama...
, Artistic director - Barry Grove, Managing director
BBC-TV production, transmitted on 25 July 1985
Same cast as London premiere, except that Gila was played by Rosie Kerslake and Nicky by Paul Adams. Kenneth IvesKenneth Ives
Kenneth Ives is a British actor turned director with a number of 1960s and 1970s television credits.As an actor he appeared in the 1968 film version of The Lion in Winter, the 1970 BBC serial Last of the Mohicans as Hawkeye, and had roles in Adam Adamant Lives! and as one of the eponymous villains...
directed. (27)
In triple bill Other Places, Duchess Theatre, London, 7 March – 22 June 1985
Cast- Colin BlakelyColin BlakelyColin George Blakely was a Northern Irish character actor. He was considered an actor of great range.-Early life:...
(Nicolas) - Roger Davidson (Victor)
- Rosie Kerslake (Gila)
- Daniel Kipling or Simon Vyvyan (Nicky) (27)
Gate Theatre, Dublin / Lincoln Center Harold Pinter Festival – Summer 2001
Cast- Harold PinterHarold PinterHarold Pinter, CH, CBE was a Nobel Prize–winning English playwright and screenwriter. One of the most influential modern British dramatists, his writing career spanned more than 50 years. His best-known plays include The Birthday Party , The Homecoming , and Betrayal , each of which he adapted to...
(Nicolas) - Lloyd Hutchinson (Victor)
- Indira VarmaIndira VarmaIndira Varma is an English actress. Her first major role was in Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love. She has gone on to appear in the television series Rome and Human Target.-Early life and background:...
(Gila) - Rory Copus (Nicky)
Production team:
- Robin Lefèvre, Director
- Liz Ashcroft, Set & Costume Design
- Mick Hughes, Sound Design
In double bill with Party Time, BAC, London, 2003
Cast:- Jason Barnett (Victor)
- Kristin Hutchinson (Gila)
- Colin McCormack (Nicolas)
- Kadell Herida/Shakir Joseph (Nicky)
Production team:
- Bijan Sheibani, Director
- Paul Burgess, Stage design
- Guy Kornetski, Lighting design
- Emma Laxton, Sound Design
- Daisy O'Flynn, Production Manager
- Abigail Gonda, Producer
Works cited
Pinter, HaroldHarold Pinter
Harold Pinter, CH, CBE was a Nobel Prize–winning English playwright and screenwriter. One of the most influential modern British dramatists, his writing career spanned more than 50 years. His best-known plays include The Birthday Party , The Homecoming , and Betrayal , each of which he adapted to...
. One for the Road[: A Play]. London: Methuen, 1984. ISBN 0413560600 (10). ISBN 9780413560605 (13). (Hardcover.)
–––. One for the Road: With Production Photos by Ivan Kyncl and an Interview on the Play and Its Politics. Rev. and reset ed. London: Methuen, 1985. ISBN 0413583708 (10). ISBN 9780413583703 (13). ISBN 0413589501 (10). ISBN 9780413589507 (13). ["With illustrations and introduction first published … in 1985" (4). Includes "A Play and Its Politics: A Conversation between Harold Pinter and Nicholas Hern" (5-23).]
–––. One for the Road: With Production Photos by Ivan Kyncl and an Interview on the Play and Its Politics. New York: Grove Press
Grove Press
Grove Press is an American publishing imprint that was founded in 1951. Imprints include: Black Cat, Evergreen, Venus Library, Zebra. Barney Rosset purchased the company in 1951 and turned it into an alternative book press in the United States. The Atlantic Monthly Press, under the aegis of its...
, 1986. ISBN 0394623630 (10). ISBN 9780394623634 (13). ISBN 0394545753 (10). ISBN 9780394545752 (13). (Evergreen paperback ed.) ("A Play and Its Politics: A Conversation between Harold Pinter and Nicholas Hern" (7–23) is dated February 1985. Includes "Postscript", by Harold Pinter, dated May 1995.) [Parenthetical references in the text are to this edition of the play. As Pinter uses three spaced periods for pauses in his dialogue, editorial ellipses of three unspaced periods are herein placed within brackets.]
Rich, Frank
Frank Rich
Frank Rich is an American essayist and op-ed columnist who wrote for The New York Times from 1980, when he was appointed its chief theatre critic, until 2011...
. "Stage: Three by Pint(e)r". New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
. The New York Times Company
The New York Times Company
The New York Times Company is an American media company best known as the publisher of its namesake, The New York Times. Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, Jr. has served as Chairman of the Board since 1997. It is headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City....
, 28 Apr. 1984. Web
World Wide Web
The World Wide Web is a system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the Internet...
. 9 Feb. 2009.
External links
- One for the Road at HaroldPinter.org: The Official Website of the International Playwright Harold Pinter