To Kill a Machine

The play To Kill a Machine tells the life-story of war-time cryptanalyst Alan Turing. It is a story about the importance of truth and injustice and about the importance of keeping and of revealing secrets. The play examines his pioneering work considering whether a machine could think, asking the questions: what then is the difference between a human and a machine - and if a human is prevented from thinking, do they then become a machine? At the heart of the play is a powerful love story which questions the meaning of humanity and the importance of freedom and considers how these questions are played out in relation to Turing's own life, death and posthumous re-evaluation. It is the story of Turing the genius, Turing the victim and Turing the constant, in a tumultuous world. This volume also contains "I Don't Say Owt", a companion monologue written from the point of view of the character Arnold Murray, Turing's lover.