Many discovered the mathematician Alan Turing through the film Imitation Game (The imitation game). Benedict Cumberbatch then lent his features to the man who was able to decode the German computer Enigma in the middle of the Second World War. Now Turing arrives at the theater, this time played by Benoît McGinnis.
If the feature film focused on the scientific exploit of the British scientist, the piece presented at the Rideau Vert, entitled The Turing machinerather lifts the veil on the human behind the genius of mathematics and cryptology.
The pain, the solitude, but also the pride of accepting ourselves as we are hover over this text written at human height. The algebraic calculations that made Turing famous are barely mentioned. Let it be said: this show is definitely intended for the general public, not for fans of equations with three unknowns!
The play by Benoit Solès won four Molière awards when it was created in France in 2018. It arrives in Quebec in an adaptation by Maryse Warda and directed by Sébastien David.
Here, Alan Turing is a man who stutters, is socially awkward and has a sense of humor so offbeat that it is sometimes uncomfortable. Numbers are his only friends. It is surrounded by these entities that he feels at home. This is all the more true since he had to hide his homosexuality, still considered illegal in Great Britain in the mid-20th century.e century.
And it is this intolerance towards homosexuality that will cause his descent into hell…
Fair and efficient interpreters
To embody this forced loner with a tragic destiny, Benoît McGinnis demonstrates great sensitivity and nuance. By highlighting the dreamy and sometimes candid side of the person he plays, the actor makes him an endearing figure. We forget the genius who can read secret codes; we only see a man in search of human warmth.
The undignified and cruel end of Turing, who was subjected to chemical castration by taking estrogen, is all the more unjust…
PHOTO FRANÇOIS DELAGRAVE, PROVIDED BY THE THÉÂTRE DU RIDEAU VERT
Étienne Pilon (standing) takes on the role of police commissioner Mikaël Ross.
Opposite Benoît McGinnis, Étienne Pilon plays a police commissioner who is as rigid as possible, both in his head and in his body. However, it is difficult to understand how this unsympathetic man could go from coldness to affection towards the one he is questioning.
Jean-Moïse Martin is Turing’s envious boss in the secret spy cell responsible for deciphering Enigma. Finally, Gabriel Cloutier Tremblay takes on the role of the young lover who will bring about the downfall of the man who saved thousands of lives by deciphering the German communications apparatus.
All these actors are fair and efficient. No complaints. But effectiveness is not necessarily what makes a piece grab us, shake us and haunt us.
The solid dramatic line of the text and the great humanity that emanates from it make The Turing machine a spectacle touching at times, even instructive. But this fairly conventional production is not the type to leave a lasting impression on us either.
The very wise direction of Sébastien David undoubtedly has something to do with it. The actors exchange lines, cheerfully break the fourth wall and follow a series of chronologically disordered scenes without the audience’s heart really beating. The whole thing is bathed in a certain coldness which keeps us at a distance from the emotions of the characters, their ambitions and their fears while around them, the world was turning upside down.
The fact remains that in this text, Alan Turing raises several major philosophical questions which are still relevant today. Can a machine think? What is the overall logic that governs the world? Why is it so difficult to accept difference? The piece undoubtedly nourishes the public’s reflection.
Alan Turing retained within him a great thirst to understand what was happening around him. We would have liked to be passionate about his life and to be moved by his sad fate. We more modestly spent a good evening in his company.
The Turing machine
Text by Benoit Solès, direction by Sébastien David. With Benoit McGinnis, Étienne Pilon, Jean-Moïse Martin and Gabriel Cloutier Tremblay.
Green Curtain TheaterUntil February 24, then on tour in Quebec