
The Alan Turing Musical
Paradise Green
10:50am daily
“This musical, composed by Joel Goodman and Jan Osborne, with a new script by Joan Greening is a journey through the extraordinary life of Alan Turing. Alan was a genius whose brilliant code breaking brain saved approximately fourteen million lives in WW2. It takes us on a journey through the loss of his closest friend, his romance with a fellow worker, the moment he realises how to beat the Germans and the growing awareness of his homosexuality. His treatment after the war was truly appalling and this brilliant, funny man was left in despair.”
Review by Richard Lambert, 4 stars
Such a powerful emotive story about a man with a brilliant mind who saved millions of lives. Who happened to be gay. Society deemed his sexuality so dispicable that they prosecuted and vilified and destroyed his self-worth until 2 years later he committed suicide by eating arsenic.
It’s an atrocious reflection on humanty, or to be more precise, a lack of any humanity. And it happened in England not so long ago!
For all the reasons started above, this musical deserves to succeed and is doing well here in Edinburgh before its move to the West End of London.
The songs and musical compositions are delightful. The story is heart-wrenching. But the dramaturg that one would expect within such a musical could do with further development. The emotional journey comes across as consistently tragic rather than a rise and fall to reflect Turing’s successes and failures. The singing isn’t always as harmonious as one would hope. The lighting was unusual in places with several programming mistakes. The production is crying out for a more experienced production team who will then deliver the success it so deserves!
Go see an important piece of our history!