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Breaking The Code: A Play by Hugh Whitemore
Simon Templeman stars as brilliant mathematician Alan Turing, the man who cracked the German Enigma code and enabled the Allies to win World War II. But Turing was to find that the country he saved cared less about his genius and more about his sexual orientation.
112 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1986
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Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
March 20, 2013
Alan Turing is known as the man who broke the Germans' Enigma code during the Second World War. A brilliant mathematician, he is also considered the father of computer science. His personal life also harboured secrets; namely, that he preferred men over women in his choice of romantic partners. At the time, homosexuality was still illegal in Britain, so once his lifestyle was made known to the police, he was charged with gross indecency and forced to undergo chemical castration. He eventually died in a manner suggestive of suicide but some believe it was an accidental death.
The play covers most of Turing's life, from his teenage years to his death, flitting back and forth in time. Turing steps from one memory and experience to another, from the police station where he makes his self-incriminating statement to the scene where he and his boyfriend first meet, from his mother's home to Bletchley Park (the code-breaking HQ). It provides a good overview of all the major life events and uses a couple of lectures as a mostly successful way of explaining Turing's theories and work. Some of the chronology is a bit muddy, so it may be helpful to know the broad outlines of Turing's story before reading the play.
Recommended if you're interested in the code-breakers of WW2, the early figures in computer science, or just noteworthy historical figures in general.
The play covers most of Turing's life, from his teenage years to his death, flitting back and forth in time. Turing steps from one memory and experience to another, from the police station where he makes his self-incriminating statement to the scene where he and his boyfriend first meet, from his mother's home to Bletchley Park (the code-breaking HQ). It provides a good overview of all the major life events and uses a couple of lectures as a mostly successful way of explaining Turing's theories and work. Some of the chronology is a bit muddy, so it may be helpful to know the broad outlines of Turing's story before reading the play.
Recommended if you're interested in the code-breakers of WW2, the early figures in computer science, or just noteworthy historical figures in general.
February 5, 2013
British mathematician Alan Turing reports the burglary of his house to the police. Under questioning he tries to give the detective information about whom he suspects of the crime, but the detective can tell Turing is lying and the investigation leads to further questioning. Turing becomes flustered and admits to having an affair with one of the suspects. It's 1951, homosexuality is illegal, and Turing's admission leads to a conviction and chemical castration for the man who had been awarded an O.B.E. for conceiving a code-breaking computer that helped the Allies win during WWII.
This play, based on facts, follows the years of Turing's life from about 1948 to 1951, with a flashback to his childhood. The scene changes are done fluidly with the actor simply changing a jacket and lighting changes. It was first performed in London in 1986, then went to Broadway, with Derek Jacobi as Turing, and Jacobi also appeared in the filming of the play. I put this in my "Something Led Me to the Book" category as I first learned about it because my favorite actor, John Castle, took over the role in 1987.
This play, based on facts, follows the years of Turing's life from about 1948 to 1951, with a flashback to his childhood. The scene changes are done fluidly with the actor simply changing a jacket and lighting changes. It was first performed in London in 1986, then went to Broadway, with Derek Jacobi as Turing, and Jacobi also appeared in the filming of the play. I put this in my "Something Led Me to the Book" category as I first learned about it because my favorite actor, John Castle, took over the role in 1987.
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October 2, 2022(Monster Factory voice) that's a sweet boy
August 20, 2011
I haven't actually read this but saw it on stage in a good amateur production. Not bad but there were times when it seemed Turing's speeches were the playwright making observations about the themes and structure of Turing's life rather than something the character would say about himself. Also I felt the play concentrated on his homosexuality as a major feature of his life to the exclusion of his possible autism and depression (which are important in themselves and also arguably have more to do with the themes of his work).
August 1, 2025
This is not the first production of an L.A. Theatre Works production I’ve listened to, and I’m glad I chose to listen to this. All plays deserve to be heard if they can’t be seen. Reading will never give you the same experience.
Alan Turing’s story is one of the more tragic to come from the victory of WWII. The way Turing was treated was horrendous and painful to even think too hard about. Whitemore tells his story at multiple points in Turing’s life and ends with his death. I don’t think that Whitemore’s play shows the worst of Turing’s experiences at the hands of his government but it shows enough to make the point. There is a lot of pain in this play, mixed with flashes of joy but mostly pain. It is not for the faint of heart. Though I do recommend it to people who want to honour the members of LGBTQ+ community of the past who suffered in a way we no longer need to.
The cast:
• Simon Templeman as Alan Turing
• Sheelagh Cullen as Sara Turing
• Kenneth Danziger as Detective Mick Ross
• Peter Dennis as John Smith
• Samantha Robson as Pat Green
• Orlando Seale as Ron Miller
• W. Morgan Sheppard as Dillwyn Knox
• André Sogliuzzo as Christopher Morcom and Nikos
Simon Templeman is stunning as Alan Turing, his stutters, pauses in speech and self-assuredness work so very well. I love that we get absolutely no translation for what Nikos is saying and that André Sogliuzzo is voicing him, the same person who voiced Alan’s first love, Christopher. Samantha Robson is charming as Pat Green. You can feel her softness and affection for her Prof. I do appreciate Sheelagh Cullen as Sara Turing, her initial reaction to her son coming out to her is on point, delivered with perfect emotional tone and volume but she moves past it without saying anything she can’t take back.
I’m using this for PopSugar’s Reading Challenge prompt #45, a book with a left-handed character. It’s one of the advanced prompts. This play is available in print. Alan Turing was left-handed, one of the famous lefties in history. I thought a biography was a good fit for the prompt, given that a lot of authors don’t specify handedness in their books, as is only right unless that fact is actually relevant to the plot.
Alan Turing’s story is one of the more tragic to come from the victory of WWII. The way Turing was treated was horrendous and painful to even think too hard about. Whitemore tells his story at multiple points in Turing’s life and ends with his death. I don’t think that Whitemore’s play shows the worst of Turing’s experiences at the hands of his government but it shows enough to make the point. There is a lot of pain in this play, mixed with flashes of joy but mostly pain. It is not for the faint of heart. Though I do recommend it to people who want to honour the members of LGBTQ+ community of the past who suffered in a way we no longer need to.
The cast:
• Simon Templeman as Alan Turing
• Sheelagh Cullen as Sara Turing
• Kenneth Danziger as Detective Mick Ross
• Peter Dennis as John Smith
• Samantha Robson as Pat Green
• Orlando Seale as Ron Miller
• W. Morgan Sheppard as Dillwyn Knox
• André Sogliuzzo as Christopher Morcom and Nikos
Simon Templeman is stunning as Alan Turing, his stutters, pauses in speech and self-assuredness work so very well. I love that we get absolutely no translation for what Nikos is saying and that André Sogliuzzo is voicing him, the same person who voiced Alan’s first love, Christopher. Samantha Robson is charming as Pat Green. You can feel her softness and affection for her Prof. I do appreciate Sheelagh Cullen as Sara Turing, her initial reaction to her son coming out to her is on point, delivered with perfect emotional tone and volume but she moves past it without saying anything she can’t take back.
I’m using this for PopSugar’s Reading Challenge prompt #45, a book with a left-handed character. It’s one of the advanced prompts. This play is available in print. Alan Turing was left-handed, one of the famous lefties in history. I thought a biography was a good fit for the prompt, given that a lot of authors don’t specify handedness in their books, as is only right unless that fact is actually relevant to the plot.
August 25, 2020
7M, 2F
This is a bio-play about Alan Turing, and is notable for presenting the man as unexpectedly honest about his homosexuality, both to himself and when questioned by the police, in circumstances when it was illegal.
Nevertheless, he does not actively seek to be exposed as gay, and one of the more awkward scenes for an audience is the one in which Turing is suddenly aware that he has made himself vulnerable to blackmail and exploitation.
The play operates on, as far as I could tell, minimal staging, and is structured in a series of timeshifts between past and present that are easily followed and through which the nature of Turing as a moral being and a brilliant mathematician are revealed. Although he is not notably sensitive to other people’s feelings, he is clearly not unlovable, and the scene in which he tells his mother that he is in a spot of trouble for homosexuality – she being utterly ignorant of his sexuality – is one in which her instincts towards her son are severely tested, but unaffected. The police and security interviews are intelligently done as well.
The overall effect is that we have a balanced view of Turing as man, and attitudes to homosexuality are looked at without an audience being made to feel they are being lectured – what we are shown is allowed to speak for itself. That is not to say the old law is excused, but those representing it are not actively demonised by the playwright who allows the audience of a different age to reflect on the pain that law and the attitudes behind it can inflict.
This is a bio-play about Alan Turing, and is notable for presenting the man as unexpectedly honest about his homosexuality, both to himself and when questioned by the police, in circumstances when it was illegal.
Nevertheless, he does not actively seek to be exposed as gay, and one of the more awkward scenes for an audience is the one in which Turing is suddenly aware that he has made himself vulnerable to blackmail and exploitation.
The play operates on, as far as I could tell, minimal staging, and is structured in a series of timeshifts between past and present that are easily followed and through which the nature of Turing as a moral being and a brilliant mathematician are revealed. Although he is not notably sensitive to other people’s feelings, he is clearly not unlovable, and the scene in which he tells his mother that he is in a spot of trouble for homosexuality – she being utterly ignorant of his sexuality – is one in which her instincts towards her son are severely tested, but unaffected. The police and security interviews are intelligently done as well.
The overall effect is that we have a balanced view of Turing as man, and attitudes to homosexuality are looked at without an audience being made to feel they are being lectured – what we are shown is allowed to speak for itself. That is not to say the old law is excused, but those representing it are not actively demonised by the playwright who allows the audience of a different age to reflect on the pain that law and the attitudes behind it can inflict.
July 18, 2017
I don't think Huge Whitemore's intended takeaway message for this play was "calling the police has always been a bad idea," but given the current police state in the US, that's certainly what I got out of it.
There are some wonderful Big Ideas here, glimpses of lives and careers and the impressive and important work of Turing and the rest of the Bletchley circle. I felt all the frustration I expected to as Turing's homosexuality overshadowed all the invaluable work he did during the war, as his boss espoused respectability politics and the cops blathered nonsense about the importance of upholding the law, even when you know it's morally repugnant. All of which feels incredibly relevant today.
But I was frequently so frustrated with Whitemore's portrayal of Turing himself. Now, I don't know if any transcript of his police interviews exist, so maybe it really went down this way. But the bit where Turing just blurts out the information about his affair stuck in my craw. I understand and applaud Turing's desire to be open about his sexuality, and I realize the interrogation had him flustered. But surely he was smart enough to know better than to just drop it into the conversation like that and not even seem to care. The admission, with hardly any prompting from Ross, also falls flat from a dramatic standpoint. For a scene on which much of the play is supposed to turn, it has disappointingly little dramatic impact.
There are some wonderful Big Ideas here, glimpses of lives and careers and the impressive and important work of Turing and the rest of the Bletchley circle. I felt all the frustration I expected to as Turing's homosexuality overshadowed all the invaluable work he did during the war, as his boss espoused respectability politics and the cops blathered nonsense about the importance of upholding the law, even when you know it's morally repugnant. All of which feels incredibly relevant today.
But I was frequently so frustrated with Whitemore's portrayal of Turing himself. Now, I don't know if any transcript of his police interviews exist, so maybe it really went down this way. But the bit where Turing just blurts out the information about his affair stuck in my craw. I understand and applaud Turing's desire to be open about his sexuality, and I realize the interrogation had him flustered. But surely he was smart enough to know better than to just drop it into the conversation like that and not even seem to care. The admission, with hardly any prompting from Ross, also falls flat from a dramatic standpoint. For a scene on which much of the play is supposed to turn, it has disappointingly little dramatic impact.
October 13, 2019
I think this was the first book I ever read about Alan Turing. I've since read quite a bit more, so revisiting the play has a very different feel to it. Turing is a giant to those of us in the field of computer science. Without Babbage and Turing, we would not have the modern digital computers that have transformed our society. And it's very possible that without Turing, the Allies would have lost the Second World War. I'm convinced he was on the autism spectrum; his literal-mindedness and mental brilliance are dead giveaways. This play is very effective at highlighting the tragic injustice of the UK's Gross Indecency laws, much as the play Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde did with respect to regarding Wilde. It's a shame the UK government learned nothing in the interim decades.
February 13, 2023
This play chronicles a deeply depressing bit of science history that I was already familiar with. I've an interest in Bletchley Park, and I've written a story on Alan Turing before, so unfortunately nothing in the play was a surprise. There's no happy ending. Turing dies, having been hounded to death by a deeply ungrateful legal system and small-minded morality, because even having done perhaps more than anyone else to safeguard the UK during WW2, he happened to be gay.
He was a genius and it didn't matter. He was a scientific hero and it didn't matter. That his image has been rehabilitated, decades after the fact, is too late and no comfort whatsoever. It's a really good play, but it's an utter disgrace that it ever needed to be written in the first place.
He was a genius and it didn't matter. He was a scientific hero and it didn't matter. That his image has been rehabilitated, decades after the fact, is too late and no comfort whatsoever. It's a really good play, but it's an utter disgrace that it ever needed to be written in the first place.
May 18, 2020
Really enjoyed this. Thought it was a good take on the story and liked the flashes through different points in his life. It seemed a lot more accurate than the film they did, which seemed to just focus on his relationship with a woman in Bletchley and also add 'dramatic' events that never happened.
I thought perhaps it was a shame some of the exciting events happened off stage. Scenes are often conversations in the prelude or after math of the big events - him attending the trial, being robbed, making scientific discoveries. Would be interested to see how a production would handle these so it felt exciting.
I thought perhaps it was a shame some of the exciting events happened off stage. Scenes are often conversations in the prelude or after math of the big events - him attending the trial, being robbed, making scientific discoveries. Would be interested to see how a production would handle these so it felt exciting.
October 14, 2019
This was a play from the LA Theater Works about the brilliant mathematician Alan Turing. His work during WWII and breaking cypher codes contrasted with his homosexuality. His orientation caused the British government problems and was illegal for many years. He was later cleared posthumously. The play jumps about during many points of his life. It is based on a novel, which I have, but haven’t read yet. I will have to revisit this after reading the book. Great cast and production.
March 26, 2024
"Dip the apple in the brew, let the sleeping death seep through"
Dang, Whitemore. What a way to conclude a play 💀
I really enjoyed this for its look at Alan Turing's life from an angle not often written about, but you have to know a fair amount about other aspects of his life to capitalize on Whitemore's references.
Dang, Whitemore. What a way to conclude a play 💀
I really enjoyed this for its look at Alan Turing's life from an angle not often written about, but you have to know a fair amount about other aspects of his life to capitalize on Whitemore's references.
June 5, 2024
It was not at all what I expected because it was in fact, a play. Most of the focus was on Alan Turing's sexual preferences and minimal information was really given on his work that was immensely important for the war effort. If I had not known a fair bit about the history, I would have been a little bit lost. Anyone coming for information should look elsewhere...this is theatre.
August 17, 2024
In the long run, all things consider, it's not breaking the code that matters; it's where you go from there. That's the real problem.
RIP Alan Turing 😭 you would've loved Chat GPT
February 25, 2018
What a poignant play. I was staging it in my mind the entire time I was reading.
November 25, 2019
Quite a good play which raises many moral issues.
September 12, 2012
Alan Turing, a mathematical cryptographic genius, who laid the foundation to create a computer to decipher the German enigma code (used during WWII to send messages) is then prosecuted and demonized because of his homosexuality. Turing committed suicide two years after his chemical castration as punishment for his homosexuality and 'til this day has not been pardoned for being gay. There is petition to grant a pardon for Alan Turing (http://submissions.epetitions.direct....), but it's only open to British citizens. How sad that the HMs gov't didn't see fit to do so either then or now.
May 6, 2015
Today, while we know that coming out and homosexuality is more accepted than it was,
we still know that it is not as accepted as it should be. What we tend to forget is how non-existence was.
Breaking the Code is the storyabout “the fall” of Allan Turning, he of enigma fame. It concerns his struggle with how society sees his homosexuality. At times funny
and more often emotional, this LA Theatre Works production is well worth listening
to.
we still know that it is not as accepted as it should be. What we tend to forget is how non-existence was.
Breaking the Code is the storyabout “the fall” of Allan Turning, he of enigma fame. It concerns his struggle with how society sees his homosexuality. At times funny
and more often emotional, this LA Theatre Works production is well worth listening
to.
October 12, 2014
Breaking The Code tells the story of a mathematical genius, Alan Turing who, seconded to the top secret Bletchley Park England during World War II, was responsible for designing the first computer, which enabled the allies to crack the German Enigma code and, some would argue, win the war. It was on Churchill's specific instructions that Turing was given all the resources he required - and his personal behavior tolerated: Turing was a practicing homosexual at a time when it was illegal.
February 22, 2015
A biography of the English mathematician Alan Turing, who was one of the inventors of the digital computer and one of the key figures in the breaking of the Enigma code, used by the Germans to send secret orders to their U-boats in World War II. Turing was also a homosexual in Britain at a time when this was illegal, besides being a security risk.
A movie was made based on this play and it's available at YouTube.
A movie was made based on this play and it's available at YouTube.
August 10, 2007
I love this play. Based on the book "Alan Turing and the Enigma Code" by Andrew Hodges, it is a dramatization about the man who broke the german enigma code during WW2. A fascinating and brilliant personality, he struggles with his need to break the enigma code and his own sexuality. 7 Men, 2 Women.
May 6, 2015
Powerful in its depiction of Turing's life and struggle, but suffers somewhat during the sometimes overly verbose scenes. It's hard to hold an audience's attention in a play with so little action, especially when so much of the dialogue is mathematical or technical. Done right, it can be surprisingly good, but it's a definite challenge.
September 24, 2014
I was very excited to hear that there was a play about Alan Turing, but I was quite disappointed after reading this. The characters all felt very one dimensional and I didn't appreciate the writing at all.
did-not-finish
December 24, 2015I got quite interested in Turing so asked for almost every book my library had on him. This one turned out to be a play. It might actually be a good play but as a book, I just could not get into it. If you enjoy reading plays it might be up your alley to read it.
November 23, 2016
Heartbreaking and moving. It's amazing how dogma can elbow aside all human compassion. Turing was a hero and a genius, but that didn't help spare him from petty persecution. I consider this a must read.
December 18, 2022
A well-written biographical play about a remarkable man. The play jumps back and forth in time to deliver scenes showcasing both the intelligence and gentle humanity of Alan Turing while respectfully addressing his mistreatment.
February 9, 2015
The Imitation Game is not a million miles away from this playscript so I guess this laid the groundwork. Interesting and thought-provoking but not knock-your-socks-off.
June 19, 2015
Brilliant script, got a sense of the man- his mind and his heart
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews