Theatre / bletchley park
Review: That Is All You Need To Know
Fishponds boy Gordon Welchman became one of the great minds at Bletchley Park, deciphering enemy codes during World War Two – but he was later forbidden to talk about his time there. Now his story is revealed in this compelling show by Oxford-based Idle Motion at Tobacco Factory Theatres.
The fact that most people know about the extraordinary work going on at Bletchley doesn’t seem to matter: the retelling is fresh and there are new characters to get to know.
“All this secrecy,” says Welchman, played confidently by Christopher Hughes, “has prevented us from learning vital lessons.” The show largely skips back and forth between two such “lessons”: the 1990s efforts to save the physical Bletchley Park from the developers, and the original wartime efforts of those that worked there as retold by Welchman. And it’s nicely framed by the – presumably real – contemporary interview between a theatrical researcher and the nineties campaigners.
is needed now More than ever
The 1940s drama has more punch, perhaps because the story is rich with real biographies complemented by imaginative physical theatre. Wide-eyed Alan Turing (Luke Barton) is wonderfully non-verbal, all elbows and thumbs. There’s also clever use of projection and voiceover, with the touching voices and film footage of those who were there.
A talented cast of six bring to life the characters from both periods. In the 1990s campaigners’ scenes, the naturalistic dialogue and clever use of the stage makes the crowd of supporters feel large. There is plenty to laugh at in these scenes too, most memorably Lottie, played for laughs by Grace Chapman – who suggests a nude fundraising calendar – and the farcical village hall meetings.
The end of this one-act play takes us to the endings of those who were there and the dismantling of the Bletchley machinery, but the overall mood is uplifting and impressive.
The play’s material may be the stuff of Hollywood films, but this is a professional theatre experience: visually interesting, musical and imaginative.
That Is All You Need To Know continues at Tobacco Factory Theatres until Saturday, June 27. For more info and to book tickets, visit www.tobaccofactorytheatres.com/shows/detail/that_is_all_you_need_to_know
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