Kelley and Goring on the Plane to Nuremberg

Taken from David W. Rintels's drama *Nuremberg*, this intense duologue captures a high-stakes exchange aboard a prisoner transport plane. Hermann Goring engages his psychologist, Kelley, in a conversation about their destination and the outcome of his recent personality tests. What begins as a polite inquiry quickly transforms into an exercise in psychological warfare, culminating in Goring boasting of his plan to evade execution. It provides an exceptional dramatic encounter driven entirely by subtext, status play, and quiet calculation.

Goring is a sophisticated, narcissistic authority figure who stubbornly refuses to surrender control, even while in custody. He relies on personal charm, high intellect, and an expansive ego to disarm those around him and manipulate the dynamic. Kelley represents clinical professionalism and guarded restraint, attempting to maintain objective detachment under difficult circumstances. While Kelley holds official authority as an officer and examiner, he is consistently challenged by Goring's penetrating perception and effortless conversational dominance.

This piece offers actors an outstanding opportunity to display stillness, precise listening, and psychological danger without leaning on physical action or shouting. Because the dramatic tension stems from subtle shifts in status and intellectual sparring, casting directors can instantly assess an actor's ability to handle layered subtext. The material works seamlessly in both agent showcases and self-tape environments, allowing performers to command the frame through nuance, vocal control, and unwavering presence.

The scene is ideally suited for self-tapes, agent showcases, and advanced dramatic practice. It serves as a prime vehicle for character actors targeting intense, sophisticated villain roles or commanding authority figures. With character dynamics pairing a man in his thirties with an older figure in his fifties, it offers mature performers a grounded historical platform to exhibit dramatic gravitas and sharp mental agility.

Avoid the trap of playing Goring with exaggerated malice or heavy-handed hostility; his genuine danger lies in an affable, almost genial delivery that hides deep cunning. For Kelley, focus on internal conflict, ensuring that the psychologist's outward composure is undercut by subtle moments of hesitation and caution. Allow the pauses between lines to breathe, using the rhythm of the conversation to heighten the psychological stakes of this private duel.