Breaking the Code: A Hero Betrayed

Prior to WWII, mathematician Alan Turing, age 24, distinguished himself at Cambridge with his published work, "On Computable Numbers..." During the war, he broke Germany's Enigma code, and his theories led to the invention of the computer. Winston Churchill presented him with the Officer of the British Empire, the empires highest civilian award. In the mid-fifties, after admitting to homosexuality, he died, allegedly at this own hand.

Hugh Whitemore adapted Andrew Hodges' novel, "Alan Turing: The Enigma," creating Breaking The Code. Whitemore moves back and forth in time in following major phases of Turing's life. Alan Turing was a complex genius, a mathematician equally excited about the other sciences and, thus, able to transcend the bias of a single field. Sadly, he was unable to transcend the political and social stigmas of the time -- this was, in the end, the McCarthy era.

Director Rosina Reynolds cast the production well. Ron Choularton as Turing is a marvelous choice; he has a way of digging deeply into the character and bringing a life and a passion not often found in other actors. He, truly, is Alan Turing, with all of his quirks, his stuttering, his dynamics when discussing his love of math and science. If you ask this man for the time of the day, he explains in great depth the workings of a watch. Choularton's a joy, but he isn't alone. Fine, too, are Jonathan Dunn-Rankin as his boss; Jenni Prisk as his mother, Sarah; Jillian Frost as a co-worker and a very close friend; Nick Berry and Rick Stevens as Detectives Sergeant Ross and Inspector Smith; with Ben Randle, Scott Coker, and Francisco C. Torres as the men in Turing's life. Dunn-Rankin is amusingly blustery, Berry and Stevens are properly menacing as representatives of the establishment. Prisk convinces as a mother who can't understand her son.

Director Reynolds' design of the scene changes is refreshing, using lighting changes and character moves with occasional minor wardrobe changes as accents. The stage affords the multiple locations quite comfortably, although the lighting could better isolate some of the playing areas, giving more drama to the events being portrayed.

Breaking The Code is an important play about some rather tumultuous times in world history. Alan Turing was a genius, a hero to the Allies, as well as to a country that made him a criminal.