Harold Pinter_No Man's Land_Bolsova Street Directions

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Actor Daniel Sommerford as Briggs from Harold Pinter's 'No Man's Land'.

BRIGGS We’re old friends, Jack and myself.

We met at a street corner.

I should tell you he’ll deny this account.

His story will be different.

I was standing at a street corner.

A car drew up.

It was him.

He asked me the way to Bolsover street.

I told him Bolsover street was in the middle of an intricate one-way system.

It was a one-way system easy enough to get into.

The only trouble was that, once in, you couldn’t get out.

I told him his best bet,

if he really wanted to get to Bolsover street,

was to take the first left, first right, second right, third on the left,

keep his eye open for a hardware shop,

go right round the square, keeping to the inside lane,

take the second Mews on the right and then stop.

He will find himself facing a very tall office block,

with a crescent courtyard.

He can take advantage of this office block.

He can go round the crescent, come out the other way,

follow the arrows, go past two sets of traffic lights

and take the next left indicated by the first green filter he comes across.

He’s got the Post Office Tower in his vision the whole time.

All he’s got to do is to reverse into the underground car park,

change gear, go straight on,

and he’ll find himself in Bolsover street with no trouble at all

I did warn him, though,

that he’ll still be faced with the problem,

having found Bolsover street, of losing it.

I told him I knew one or two people

who’d been wandering up and down Bolsover street for years.

They’d wasted their bloody youth there.

The people who live there, their faces are grey,

they’re in a state of despair, but nobody pays any attention, you see.

All people are worried about is their ill-gotten gains.

I wrote to The Times about it.

Life At A Dead End, l called it.

Went for nothing.

Anyway, I told him that probably the best thing he could do

was to forget the whole idea of getting to Bolsover street.

I remember saying to him:

This trip you’ve got in mind, drop it, it could prove fatal.

But he said he had to deliver a parcel.

Anyway, I took all this trouble with him because he had a nice open face.

He looked like a man who would always do good to others himself.

Normally I wouldn’t give a fuck.

I should tell you he’ll deny this account.

His story will be different.