A play about Alan Turing and his code-breaking activities. It focuses on both the mathematics and on his homosexuality, but does not render the latter in a prurient or leering way as many do. The author chose to ground each scene in time and space, but not tell you what those times and spaces are, which makes it difficult to figure out since it does not proceed in a linear fashion. Only by knowing something about both Alan Turing and history can you begin to make much sense of it, except in one scene where he references 1948 as being four years before; that's nice, but the next scene dips back into Turing's youth, the middle aged man becomes a teenager, and you're back to being lost. The explanations of Turing's ideas was good, the play was interesting, but reading it is difficult because of the refusal to consider the most basic rules of storytelling; not a problem if you're writing a play where time doesn't matter, but in a play of this nature, the author is, in my opinion, being a jerk for the sake of art. ( )

It's always a bit of a challenge to read a play without having seen it. This one is particularly difficult because it skips in time from childhood to war efforts and post war events and back again; visual cues from the stage would make the transition easier than on the page.

This said, this 'time warping' is an effective ploy to recount not only Alan Turing's professional contributions (computing and cryptography) but also his personal difficulties. It gives a very tight account of the man in his research, his personality and the main events of his life. Despite the very technical nature of his work, it is explained in an easily accessible fashion, with a sense of wonder. Generally a precise look at a man's extraordinary contribution. ( )

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. ( )

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. ( )