Joel Goodman
I am Joel Goodman, composer and producer of Alan Turing - A Musical Biography.
​
I chose to write about Alan Turing as I was deeply moved and inspired by his life and work. As someone with a keen interest in the world of logic and mathematics the story of ‘the man who cracked the Enigma code’ has always excited me, but the terrible injustice towards Alan Turing, ‘the homosexual man’ is less well known.
It was important to me to include direct quotes from letters that Alan wrote to his friend, family and colleagues. Any dialogue heard by Alan in the show is taken directly form letters or academic works that he actually wrote.
​
I have used the songs as my artistic license to express how Alan may have felt about some of his most salient life experiences.
​
I hope that you enjoy this musical and that it promotes an interest in a key British historical figure.
​
​​
​
Alan Turing
A musical biography
This musical is a journey through the extraordinary life of Alan Turing. Alan was a genius whose brilliant code breaking brain saved approximately fourteen million lives in WW2. It begins with the loss of his closest friend at school and travels to his time at Bletchley Park where he has a romance with a fellow worker. We witness the moment when he realises how to beat the German’s Enigma Machine and the growing awareness of his homosexuality. His treatment after the war was truly appalling and this brilliant, funny man was left in despair.
Jan Osborne
Working with Joel on this wonderful show has given me incredible insight into the life and work of Alan Turing. I feel that our show really captures the intensity of his endeavours, offers a true flavour of his character and will leave the audience in awe and in mourning of such a genius ahead of his time. Alan Turing: …’a winner, a fellow..what an honour’
Joan Greening
I met Joel at Edfringe in 2022 and saw the original show. Somehow, I agreed (Joel is very charming) to script the musical. I have so enjoyed researching and writing the script for Alan Turing A Musical Biography and have found out some amazing facts about him. He was in Germany on the ‘Night of the Long Knives’ which I felt was too important not to put into the script. Everyone who knew him said that he was a very funny man and made them laugh. That was vital information to help to build his character. It has been a happy experience working with Joel and Jan. We had lots of script meetings which were great fun and not one cross word between us. I think Alan has worked his magic on us!