DES All right. Fine. Go on. What is it? Tell me.

Pause.

LIONEL I feel so pure.

Pause.

DES Well, you’re right. You’re right to feel pure. You know why?

LIONEL Why?

DES Because you’re keeping the world clean for democracy.

They look into each other’s eyes.

DES (cont.) I’m going to shake you by the hand.

Des shakes Lionel’s hand. He then gestures to the man in the chair with his thumb.

DES (cont.) And so will he . . . (he looks at his watch) . . . in about thirty-five minutes.

Blackout.

One for the Road

ONE FOR THE ROAD

One for the Road was first performed at the Lyric Theatre Studio, Hammersmith, on March 13, 1984. The cast was as follows:

NICOLAS Mid 40s Alan Bates

VICTOR 30 Roger Lloyd Pack

GILA 30 Jenny Quayle

NICKY 7 Stephen Kember or Felix Yates

Director Harold Pinter

The BBC-TV production, transmitted on July 25, 1985, had the same cast except that Rosie Kerslake played Gila and Paul Adams played Nicky. It was directed by Kenneth Ives.

One for the Road was subsequently presented as part of the triple bill Other Places at the Duchess Theatre, London, from March 7 to June 22, 1985, with the following cast:

NICOLAS Colin Blakely

VICTOR Roger Davidson

GILA Rosie Kerslake

NICKY Daniel Kipling or Simon Vyvyan

Director Kenneth Ives

One for the Road was also performed at the New Ambassadors, London, July 2000, and at Lincoln Center, New York, July 2001. The cast was as follows:

NICOLAS Harold Pinter

VICTOR Lloyd Hutchinson

GILA Indira Varma

NICKY Rory Copus

Director Robin Lefevre

A ROOM. MORNING.

NICOLAS at his desk. He leans forward and speaks into a machine.

NICOLAS Bring him in.

He sits back. The door opens. VICTOR walks in, slowly. His clothes are torn. He is bruised. The door closes behind him.

NICOLAS (cont.) Hello! Good morning. How are you? Let’s not beat about the bush. Anything but that. D’accord? You’re a civilized man. So am I. Sit down.

Victor slowly sits.

Nicolas stands, walks over to him.

NICOLAS (cont.) What do you think this is? It’s my finger. And this is my little finger. I wave my big finger in front of your eyes. Like this. And now I do the same with my little finger. I can also use both . . . at the same time. Like this. I can do absolutely anything I like. Do you think I’m mad? My mother did.

He laughs.