Breaking the Code

This compassionate play is the story of Alan Turing, mathematician and father of computer science. Turing broke the code in two ways: he cracked the German Enigma code during World War II (for which he was decorated by Churchill) and also shattered the English code of sexual discretion with his homosexuality (for which he was arrested on a charge of gross indecency). Whitemore’s play, shifting back and forth in time, seeks to find a connection between the two events. When first performed in the 1980s, Breaking the Code was critically acclaimed in the UK before a Broadway transfer won it a raft of awards & nominations including 3 Tony Awards, and 2 Drama Desk awards.

Hugh Whitemore began his career in British television, writing many original plays and twice receiving Writers’ Guild Awards. He has also written for American TV, including a four-hour film about the Alger Hiss case, Concealed Enemies, which won an Emmy Award for the best mini-series. He received an Emmy nomination for his dramatization of the Carl Bernstein/ Bob Woodward book about President Nixon, The Final Days.