Paul T Davies reviews Alan Turing A Musical Biography presented at Paradise in Augustines as part of the Edinburgh Fringe.
Photo: Douglas Armour Alan Turing A Musical Biography
Paradise in Augustines - The Sanctuary
Edinburgh Fringe
3 Stars
Government homophobia and persecution is, of course, part of the death and downfall of Alan Turing, the man whose genius brought World War Two to an end. Autistic, gay, and a genius, he endured chemical castration rather than go to prison following his conviction for homosexuality, and died eating a poisoned apple.
Photo: Douglas Armour
Returning after their successful run last year, Early Mornings production has a lot to fit in in its 70 minutes, and the framing device of a biographer up for an award for her book about Turing is a clumsy way to deliver the exposition, she is unsympathetic as a character, and that her brother, Ben, was similar to Turing feels a little contrived.
However, there are many positives to the show, not least the beautiful score by Joel Goodman and Jan Osbourne and the performances. Joe Bishop is superb as Turing, showing clear development and the complexity of the man. Zara Cooke shows great versitality and covers a range of characters with conviction, and they both sing beautifully. It feels as if the show is pushing against the constraints of the Fringe a little and could do with a larger cast and another act to fully do justice to the man.
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Paul is a playwright, director, actor, academic, (he has a PhD from the University of East Anglia), teacher and theatre reviewer! His plays include Living with Luke, (UK tour 2016), Play Something, (Edinburgh Festival Fringe/Drayton Arms Theatre, London 2018), , (2019), and now The Miner’s Crow, which won the inaugural Artist’s Pick of the Fringe Award at the first ever Colchester Fringe Festival 2021. In lockdown 2020 he created the audio series Isolation Alan, available on Youtube, and performed online in the Voice Box Festival. He is the founder member of Stage Write, a Colchester based theatre company, and his acting roles include Rupert in How We Love by Annette Brook, first performed at the Vaults Festival 2020 and revived at the Arcola and at Theatre Peckham in 2021. Follow: @stagewrite_
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