Breaking the Code at the Electric Theatre, Guildford

‘Breaking the Code’ by Hugh Whitemore
Guildbury Theatre Company at the Electric Theatre, Guildford
​Directed by Oliver Bruce
20th – 23rd March 2024
4 Stars
A thought-provoking, emotional and moving evening at the theatre

This play pays tribute to and tells the story of the tragic life of Alan Turing, the brilliant mathematician whose work at Bletchley Park broke the German Enigma machine’s code during World War II and who went on to formulate the concepts which underpin modern computer science. The tragedy  centres upon his determination to live a homosexual life without pretence in British 20th century society  before 1989 — to break the social code of his time. We’re presented with a portrait of a complex character, strong-willed and fiercely intelligent, whose inability to compromise with social mores brought him into conflict with convention, caused him to be labelled a  security risk despite his patriotic stance, and finally interfered with his principal passion: the drive to find a way to make a machine that can ‘think’.
 
The topic is, of course, highly relevant to today’s world, when AI is developing in the way that Turing dreamed it might (though he could not foresee our current fears of its manipulation by bad actors) and it’s also relevant to the town of Guildford, where Turing’s family lived and he himself often stayed.
 
There are no ‘bad actors’ in this Guildbury production (forgive the pun!). Oscar Heron as Turing gives a bravura performance. He develops the character from the frustrated schoolboy, hen-pecked by his conventional mother and hopelessly in love with Christopher, a heterosexual friend with whom he shares his excitement over the wonders of science and mathematical concepts. From there he grows to manhood as an obsessive seeker and solver of scientific problems, with an emotional life stunted by the death of Christopher while they are both at school. And after the ‘outing’ and the abuse Turing suffers at the hands of the law, his maturity and dignity, as a man who has achieved and understood much.
 
Eleanor Shaikh as Alan’s mother traces a journey that begins in crass conventional materialism and moves into understanding and loving support for her son when he admits his sexuality to her at last. Another sensitive and moving performance, this. Mike Pennick and Lauren Phillipou, as Turing’s colleagues at Bletchley, both deliver brilliant ensemble scenes in the second act which brought tears to the eyes (and audience applause) on the night we were there. Stephen Liddle plays the detective who has the task of arresting Turing, with a sense of the regret that the law broken in secret by so many other men now has to be invoked against Turing, a sincere and intelligent person.
 
And finally, I must also mention the striking set and the brilliantly varied musical and sonic transitions between the scenes in this, another Guildbury Theatre Company tour de force. [END: 443 words]
Janice Dempsey