''Breaking the Code'' is a 1986 British play by Hugh Whitemore about British

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, mathematical structure, structure, space, Mathematica ...

Alan Turing Alan Mathison Turing (; 23 June 1912 – 7 June 1954) was an English mathematician, computer scientist, logician, cryptanalyst, philosopher and theoretical biologist. He was highly influential in the development of theoretical computer ...

, who was a key player in the breaking of the German Enigma code at

Bletchley Park Bletchley Park is an English country house and Bletchley Park estate, estate in Bletchley, Milton Keynes (Buckinghamshire), that became the principal centre of Allies of World War II, Allied World War II cryptography, code-breaking during the S ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and a pioneer of computer science. The play thematically links Turing's

cryptographic Cryptography, or cryptology (from "hidden, secret"; and ''graphein'', "to write", or '' -logia'', "study", respectively), is the practice and study of techniques for secure communication in the presence of adversarial behavior. More gen ...

activities with his attempts to grapple with his

homosexuality Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or Human sexual activity, sexual behavior between people of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexu ...

. It was adapted into a 1996 television film directed by Herbert Wise, with Derek Jacobi reprising his stage role as Turing.

Characters

* Mick Ross, detective * Christopher Morcom, Turing's childhood friend (1911–1930) * Sara Turing, Turing's mother (1881–1976) * Ron Miller, a young man having an affair with Turing (based on Arnold Murray) * Dillwyn Knox, manager at

recruiting Turing for government service * Patricia "Pat" Green, a co-worker of Turing's at Bletchley (based on Joan Clarke; 1917–1996)

Performance history

Following an eight-month run at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

's West End beginning on 21 October 1986, the play ran on Broadway in

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from 15 November 1987, to 10 April 1988, in both cases starring Derek Jacobi. The Broadway production also featured Jenny Agutter in the role of Pat Green. William A. Henry III, writing in ''

Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

'' magazine, described the play as "elegant and poignant". The Broadway production was nominated for three

Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ce ...

s including Best Actor in a Play, Best Featured Actor in a Play, and Best Direction of a Play, and for two Drama Desk awards, for Best Actor and Best Featured Actor. Following Jacobi's departure, the London production transferred to the Comedy Theatre with John Castle as Turing. The national première for Italy of the play was translated and directed by Luca Giberti at the Teatro Stabile in Genoa, featuring Jurij Ferrini. During the Turing Centenary 2012, there were two productions of the play in Germany, at the English Theatre Frankfurt and an amateur tour through Germany and the Netherlands by the University Players Hamburg. The play was also staged just before the start of the Alan Turing Year celebrations, in December 2011, at the Old Fire Station Theatre in Oxford, by Oxford Theatre Guild. The play was produced at The Royal Exchange Theatre in 2016, the first major revival of the play in thirty years, with Daniel Rigby in the role of Alan Turing On 5 October 2019 a new production of the play began at Salisbury Playhouse in the UK. Directed by Christian Durham the performance is given in the round. To achieve this the usual seating configuration of the Playhouse was changed and seats placed on the stage. The part of Alan Turing was played by Edward Bennett.

In other media

Television

The play was adapted for television in a 1996

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

filmed production, directed by Herbert Wise, and also starring Jacobi, which won a Broadcasting Press Guild Award and was nominated for two

BAFTA The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA, ) is an independent trade association and charity that supports, develops, and promotes the arts of film, television and video games in the United Kingdom. In addition to its annual awa ...

TV awards, for best single drama and best actor, and for a

GLAAD GLAAD () is an American non-governmental media monitoring organization. Originally founded as a protest against defamatory coverage of gay and lesbian demographics and their portrayals in the media and entertainment industries, it has since ...

Media Award. It was broadcast in the United States by PBS on ''

Masterpiece Theatre ''Masterpiece'' (formerly known as ''Masterpiece Theatre'') is a drama anthology television series produced by WGBH Boston. It premiered on PBS on January 10, 1971. The series has presented numerous acclaimed British productions. Many of these ...

''. A producer's cut was released on DVD in 2012.

References

External links

*
Performance details in the Theatre Archive, University of Bristol

''Breaking the Code'' plot summary & character descriptions
from StageAgent.com

at the Alan Turing Scrapbook
archived
at Perma.cc. {{DEFAULTSORT:Breaking The Code 1986 plays Cultural depictions of Alan Turing Bletchley Park Enigma machine LGBTQ-related plays Plays by Hugh Whitemore Fiction about cryptography British plays adapted into films Plays set in the 1940s Plays set in the United Kingdom