Breaking the code
Breaking the code
Hugh Whitemore
The eccentric genius Alan Turing played a major role in winning Worl War II; he broke the complex German code called Enigma, enabling Allied forces to foresee German manoeuvres. Since his work was classified top secret for years after the war, no one knew how much was owed to him when he was put on trial for breaking another code: the taboo against homosexuality. Turing, who was also the first to conceive of computers, was convicted of the criminal act of homosexuality and sentenced to undergo hormone treatments which left him physically and mentally debilitated. He died a suicide, forgotten and alone. This play is about who he was, what happened to him and why.
Available
2012
978-1-84943-466-9
Drama
Oberon Books (Collection: Oberon Modern Plays)
Hugh Whitemore
Hugh John Whitemore was born in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England, on June 16th, 1936, and passed away when he was 82 years old, on July 17th, 2018.
Whitemore studied Acting at London’s Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, where he later became a Council member. He began his writing career in British television (working for The Wednesday Play, Armchair Theatre and Play for Today), and won a Writers’ Guild of Great Britain award twice. He also wrote for American television and received Emmy nominations with the shows “Concealed Enemies” and “The Final Days”. “The Gathering Storm”, a film about Churchill in the 1930’s, won the Emmy for “Exceptional Writing”, as well as the Writers’ Guild of America Award. His work in movies includes “The Return of the Soldier” (an adaptation of a novel by Rebecca West), the Mel Brooks’ production of “84 Charing Cross”, “Utz” (an adaptation of Bruce Chatwin’s novel), and Franco Zeffireli’s “Jane Eyre”. His plays include “Sand in the Sandwiches”, “Stevie”, “Pack of Lies”, “Breaking the Code” (available on DCPAS), “The Best of Friends”, “It’s Ralph”, “A Letter of Resignation”, “Disposing of the Body”, “God Only Knows”, and a new version of “Come Tuo Mi Voi” (As You Desire Me) by Luigi Pirandello.
Hugh Whitemore’s work has been awarded twice by UK Broadcasting Press Guild as “Best Single TV Drama”, received the Scripter Award in Hollywood, the 1998’s “Best Script Award” by the Monte Carlo Festival, and a special Communications Award by the American Mathematical Society (for Breaking the Code).