First performance November 1986 | Playwright Hugh White | |
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Similar Hugh White plays, Dramas | ||
Derek jacobi on stage in the play breaking the code as alan turing 1987
Breaking the Code is a 1986 play by Hugh Whitemore about British mathematician Alan Turing, who was a key player in the breaking of the German Enigma code at Bletchley Park during World War II and a pioneer of computer science. The play thematically links Turing's cryptographic activities with his attempts to grapple with his homosexuality.
Contents
- Derek jacobi on stage in the play breaking the code as alan turing 1987
- Breaking the code trailer hd
- Characters
- Performance history and reception
- References
It was adapted as a 1996 television film directed by Herbert Wise, with Derek Jacobi reprising his stage role as Turing.
Breaking the code trailer hd
Characters
Performance history and reception
Following a run in the London West End beginning in November 1986, the play ran on Broadway in New York City 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 magazine, described the play as "elegant and poignant". The Broadway production was nominated for three Tony Awards 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 play was adapted for television in a 1996 BBC filmed production, directed by Herbert Wise, and also starring Jacobi, which won a Broadcasting Press Guild Award and was nominated for two BAFTA TV awards, for best single drama and best actor, and for a GLAAD Media Award. It was broadcast in the United States by PBS on Masterpiece Theatre. A producer’s cut was released on DVD in 2012.
The national première for Italy of the play was translated and directed by Luca Giberti at the Stabile Theatre 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 in Oxford, by Oxford Theatre Guild.