Any dramatic depiction of the life of the genius of mathematician, scientist, inventor Alan Turing is going to need determination.

It could be argued that his brilliant work on Enigma at Bletchley Park makes him a contender for the biggest individual contribution to bringing down the Nazi regime in World War Two.

Turing's crime was that he was gay, a homosexual. In concentration camps, gays wore pink stars to denote their status.

Turing was chemically castrated, by the State, in 1952, prior to his 1954 death from cyanide poisoning. He was pardoned of his "crimes" last year!

Thwaites' Theatre is a cracking venue, with a homely atmosphere. They're undertaking a £25,000 upgrade. They could do to light up the entrance & possibly the car park across the road.

The bar area's fine, but not the white wine! The auditorium is lovely, what, 250+ quite comfy seats. It was too hot in the first half, but that didn't reach the am/dram octet of actors on the stage who were a bit pedestrian.

Second half, the heat source transferred to the stage & the pace picked up. Turing's soliloquy (Martyn Pugh) to the audience as a treatise on his work as if we were an assembly at his old public school, Sherbourne, worked well.

The two ladies, actors now, no longer actresses, depicting Turing's Mum (Jenny Hodkinson) & companion, Pat Green (Kate Roberts) did well as did his Bletchley Boss, Dillwyn Knox (Robert Talbot).

Get yourselves along to the Empire! It's a cracking local night out. But please get the wine improved & encourage folk to stay for a post performance natter.