Alan Turing play to be revived at Manchester Royal Exchange

Hugh Whitemore's play Breaking the Code about World War Two mathematician Alan Turing will be revived by Robert Hastie at Manchester Royal Exchange this autumn.

Manchester-born actor Daniel Rigby is to play Turing in a cast that also consists of Geraldine Alexander, Phil Cheadle, Natalie Dew, Harry Egan, Dimitri Gripari, Mark Oosterveen and Raad Rawi.

Hastie's new production runs from 18 October.

The play originally opened on the West End in 1986 and starred Derek Jacobi. It then transferred to Broadway and was later made into a TV film, also starring Jacobi as the mathematician.

Breaking the Code focuses on the life of Turing as he works at the British code breaking centre at Bletchley Park. The real life story follows Turing as he creates a machine that cracks the German Enigma code and his subsequent move to Manchester where he set to work on developing the modern computer. His progress was halted after revelations about his sexuality were made public.

Breaking the Code runs at Manchester Royal Exchange from 2 to 19 November with previews from 28 October.