The Turing Tape © 2004 by Rob Bartel
Performance rights available on request.
Playwright's Note
This play was written to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the death of British mathematician, wartime cryptanalyst, and early computer visionary, Alan Mathison Turing. In cooperation with Edmonton's NextFest arts festival, the script received a public reading on June 10, 2004. Mike Thompson played Alan with the remaining characters portrayed by Matt Alden, James Hamilton, and David Stone.
A subsequent draft was read at the University of Alberta's Corner Stage in March of 2005. David King served as director and dramaturg with Alan played by Aaron Talbot. The remaining characters were performed by Chris Bullough, Ben McIvor, Trevor Schmidt, and Wes Schofield.
Large swaths of Mr. Turing's final years remain classified or unknown to this day but the historical record offers a handful of tantalizing clues as to what might have been. This script represents a playfully plausible yet very much fictional interpretation of his secret life. It is a conspiracy theory but also an honest effort to crack an enigma now long since past. I like to think that Turing would approve of the imagination required even though the truth of it no doubt proves false.
About the Title
In the 1930s, Alan Turing imagined a theoretical machine that laid the foundation for modern computer programming. The computing machines of the day relied on a limited set instructions being fed in via individual punchcards. Instead, he imagined that the instructions for a Turing machine would be fed in via an infinitely long tape -- a Turing tape. The machine would not only be able to read these instructions from the tape but could do so in any order, moving forward and backward through the tape as needed. Not only that, but his machine would also be able to write new instructions to the tape and even change existing instructions. It was a radical new concept.
So, with an infinite Turing tape, with software rather than simply static firmware and hardware, machines can solve all kinds of problems. They can keep track of information and do really complicated tasks by moving around and writing on this never-ending tape. It's like having an endless notebook that can help the machine think and solve problems forever... maybe even write poetry.
Characters
The Mathematicians:
- Alan Mathison Turing [Male. 41 years old.]
- Robin Gandy [Male. Late 30s.]
The Cambridge Spies:
- Anthony Frederick Blunt [Male. Early 50s.]
- Donald Duart Maclean [Male. Early 30s.]
- Guy Francis de Moncy Burgess [Male. Early 30s.]
Other Characters (to be played by the above):
- Photographer
- Superintendent J.R. Womersley
- Scientist #1
- Scientist #2
- British General
- Bobby Officer
YOU ARE READING
The Turing Tape - a one-act play
Historische Romane"The Turing Tape", a one-act play, is a madcap conspiracy theory about the life and times of Alan Mathison Turing, a brilliant cryptanalyst, computer visionary, and homosexual within the British intelligence community of the 1940s and 50s. The play'...
