"Some years ago at Black Stripe Theatre in Tokyo, we did a reading of Harold Pinter's one-act play 'One for the Road,' and I have ever since wanted to put it on.
"Back then, I was asked to take the part of Nicolas (an officer in a totalitarian state who thinks nothing of torturing people) — which I did with mounting horror. There were some young women there, and afterward it was quite clear that none of them wanted to come near me."
A longtime Japan resident, and university teacher here, Timothy Harris — a British-born stage and screen actor, narrator and English-diction coach for Japanese opera singers (as well as for the chorus of the Rolling Stones' recent "14 On Fire" tour) — was explaining why he chose to stage the two short Pinter plays "One for the Road" (1984)" and "Ashes to Ashes (1996)" with Black Stripe Theatre.