The Schelling Point

Synopsis

What do John F. Kennedy, Stanley Kubrick, Tom Schelling, Peter Sellers and Frank Sinatra have in common?

Tom Schelling won the Nobel Prize in 2005 for his work in game theory.

He began his career soon after World War II as an economist involved in the Marshall Plan.

By the late 50s and early 60s, he had become a widely respected nuclear strategist, whose connection with Robert McNamara (John F. Kennedy’s Secretary of Defense) meant that his influence fed directly into White House policy.

Many give him (and his work) credit for the US having averted all-out nuclear war during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. Some also credit him with having been instrumental in moving the US towards involvement in Vietnam.

At the time Schelling was publishing his work on nuclear strategy, an article he wrote for the London Observer was noticed by Stanley Kubrick. Kubrick met with Schelling, and the idea for Dr Strangelove was born.

In a complex and disarming work that weaves its way between the world of realpolitik and the ‘reality’ of filmmaking, The Schelling Point explores the fanciful and ultimately romantic game theory notion that human behaviour is largely rational.

Using the Schelling Point – the point at which two parties who are unable to communicate can reach a common ground – as its focal point, the play undercuts the political landscape of the sixties with the personal crises of its protagonists, played out to the emotional rhythms of Sinatra’s unrepentant romanticism.

The result is a complex, funny, often moving and unsettling piece that challenges our notions of how the world really works.

Character Breakdown

Cast of six males and a female dancer/singer.

TOM SCHELLING 39 – 42 
STANLEY KUBRICK 32 – 35 
PETER SELLERS 35 – 38 
JFK 44 – 46 
GEORGE C. SCOTT 36 – 39 
ROBERT MCNAMARA 45 – 47 
DANCER representing, by turns, Jackie Kennedy, Ruth Sobotka, Christiane Kubrick, Karen Truesdell Riehl and Anne Howe.

Production History

Produced by Chester Productions at the Old Fitz Theatre, Sydney, Australia, 2010

Publication

Australian Playscripts 2011

Reviews

Sydney Morning Herald

..a serious-minded comedy about communication, the Cold War and the masculine psyche.. an ambitious, technically fluent script.. funny, robust..

Sydney Reviews

.. a play with a great deal going for it.. a fascinating premise.. a wealth of intriguing resonances..  intelligent and deeply interesting..

Excerpt available for download for free.