Game Theory

First things first: the cast of Game Theory includes CATS winner Meg Fraser, an actor with a wonderfully musical accent whose immaculate timing makes every line count. You get the feeling she could make almost any dialogue seem profound, insightful or witty.

Is that what she’s been required to do here? Not quite, although its easy to imagine this three-part exploration of human behaviour being a real chore with a lesser performer in Fraser’s roles.

Game Theory, co-written by Selma Dimitrijevic and director Pamela Carter, is inspired by the brain-bending principles pioneered by mathematician John ‘A Beautiful Mind’ Nash. The theory relates to the way in which human beings respond to conflict and competition; the programme notes reduce it, not entirely accurately, to ‘the struggle to reconcile hard logic with individual instinct’.

The play attempts to explore game theory idea using three unconnected sections. In the first, three representatives meet to discuss the wording of a press statement about the beginning of peace talks, and heated debate ensues before the first sentence can be agreed on. Next, three siblings come in to conflict about which of them has claim to the war-damaged home of their parents. Finally, and perhaps most interestingly, a mediator brings together a man whose life was destroyed by slander and the journalist responsible.

There are two difficulties for the audience. Firstly, the entire piece is so static that it may as well be a radio play. Secondly, the characters behave more or less like automatons, and this is a crucial flaw. The inherent assumption appears to be that in acknowledging that mathematics can be used to explain human decision-making, we override any pre-existing notions of humanity. Running at two hours without interval, Game Theory feels like an endurance exercise.