About the play
Records of Alan Mathison Turing, of his mathematical-ingenious brain, and of the historical facts that are formed around him are surprising, interesting, and full of theoretical speculation about the impact that research into athletically built genius has had and still has on the development of artificial intelligence.
We can read about his research work, which was crucial to solving the Enigma (a German electric message encryption device used during World War II), about his scientific work at the University of Manchester, about his more than just friend Christopher Morcom, who died prematurely as a result of raw milk poisoning and about his tragic fate. He was forced to choose between ways to deprive him of his precious freedom in the midst of then-hostile society. He was succumbed to chemical castration, which led him to physical and mental modifications, to the impossibility of physical and mental speed, versatility, humor, dedication, and daring focus.
But we can understand his story or read it differently, through the eyes of an amazing man who, with his eternally young and playful mind, selflessly skipped the time in which he was born. He saw the human brain not only as a scientist but as a man aware of the breadth of the human spirit and mind. In the perception of the world, he was faster and so unusual to the eyes of every individual in the society of the time that he tailored the world he shared by the personification of his machine in his own way as the only tolerable reality. There, everything was his and otherwise allowed because it was meaningful and understandable only to him. Whoever entered it had to play by its rules, recognize and accept it, even if not fully understand it. Those who failed, however, eventually executed Turing. "It's a story about a man running." wrote author Benoit Solès.
The first performance in Slovene gives space to a man who ran a marathon with his machine and indispensable friendly minds, a scientist who outlined the foundations of modern computer science and at the same time unknowingly placed a mirror in a society that hopefully will not repeat its impatient and hostile mistakes.
Nika Korenjak
About the Author
Benoit Solès graduated from the Classe Supérieure d’Art Dramatique de Paris. He made his debut in the musical shows of Roger Louret, crowned with Molières: La Java des Mémoires and Les Annees Twist. He appeared in numerous television series (Julie Lescaut, Profilage, RIS, Alice Nevers, Boulevard du Palais, etc.) and television films (Le Juste, La Pompadour, Louis XV le soleil noir, Le Chasseur, L’Affaire Salengro). He worked in cinema, collaborating with directors André Téchiné (La fille du RER), Vijay Singh (One Dollar Curry), Michel Blanc (Embrassez qui vous rire), Ramesh Aravind (Burtterfly) and Éva Ionesco (Une Jeunesse dorée).
At theater, he played in Talented Mr Ripley, directed by Thierry Harcourt; La Journée des Dupes and Les Vacances de Josépha, directed by Yves Pignot; Call Me Tennessee (he was also the author) and Bash (with Sarah Biasini), directed by Gilbert Pascal. In 2015, he played the title role of Cyrano de Bergerac at Théâtre 14, directed by Henri Lazarini. Then he created the role of Hyppolite, in Rupture à Domicile by Tristan Petitgirard (nominated for Molière award), with Olivier Sitruk (Comédie Bastille, Festival d´Avignon, Le Splendid and on tour).
His play La Machine de Turing was premiered at the Festival d'Avignon 2018 and then picked up later in fall at the Théâtre Michel in Paris, where it kept being performed ever since. At the same time, the play continued the French and international tour until May 2020 before it would return to its Festival d'Avignon 2020.
From the reviews
From 22 February to 5 March 2023, Mini teater's La Machine de Turing by Benoit Solès, directed by Ivica Buljan, toured to the iconic La MaMa theatre in New York, where we performed eight iterations and received an overwhelming response from the audience. Maura Nguyen Donohue wrote for Culturebot: "The vital necessity of artistic interventions and the revival of hidden (or romanticised) histories is clearly evident in this production by the Slovenian Mini teater. While Solès takes inspiration from Hugh Whitemore's Breaking the Code, based on Andrew Hodges' Alan Turing: The Enigma (which also inspired the film The Imitation Game), Buljan brings a version of the story that is completely fresh in its essence. His collaborators in set, lighting and video design Sonda 13/Toni Soprano Meneglejte, costume designer Alan Hranitelj, composer Andrej Makor and actors Nejc Cijan Garlatti, Timon Šturbej and Nika Korenjak contribute to a production that is brimming with sophistication, trusting in the integrity of human bodies - especially when it comes to the realisation of conceptual, emotional and technological ideas. By reducing the epic WWII battle to crack the German cipher Enigma to a deeply personal and tragic allegory (with minimal technical theatrical attributes), the show delivers an abundance of pathos and physicality in a deeply intimate way".
"Buljanu's meta approach (breaking the fourth wall by moving Timon Šturbej between the audience and the lighting engages the audience as actors in Turing's lecture), economy and actors - in addition to Cijan Garlatti, Timon Šturbej plays all the roles of the others in the performance, the police inspector, the lover, the traitor and Nika Korenjak, who plays Snow White and Turing's alter ego - succeed in breathing life into the Mini teater's stage and recreating the cruel circumstances that led to the despair of a scientist who could not fight against dullness, one-mindedness and philistinism. The fluid transitions (scene changes linked to a specific period and role changes, recreated by Timon Šturbej) are carried out with ease and minimal interventions (change of posture and facial expressions of the actor, intensity of the lights, position of the actors on the stage, etc.), but they manage to place the spectator firmly in the action narrative, so that he or she can follow the emotionally experiential world of Turing in an effortless flow."(...) "The energetic and precise acting of Nejc Cijan Garlatti and Timon Šturbej is the engine of the performance, driven by the strength of intellect, breadth of mind and, last but not least, physical endurance. It is striking because none of these fail for a moment in the performance. The creation of the characters and the intensity of the events require subtle modifications of physical expressions, especially in Šturbej who changes roles. And also in Cijan Garlatti, who maintains the modifications for 90 minutes." (...) "In La Machine de Turing the building blocks of the performance are subordinated to a dialogue in words and bodies, which illustrate each other in order to convincingly bring Turing to life and to thicken the kinaesthetic atmosphere. After a long applause, the audience quietly sits down." Erika Sešek, Koridor
"Cijan Garlatti creates the image of a stuttering, introverted genius who is shy, socially anxious and physically awkward, his movements precise, convincing and elaborate, and he uses facial expressions to justify Turing's shyness - with sideways glances at his interlocutor, fidgety hands, a bent body and constant changes of body posture accompanied by changes of topics of conversation."(...) "The actors work in harmony, their interplay is underpinned by a dynamic energy that effectively immerses the audience in the illusion unfolding before them on stage." (...) "The permanent, economical and bare set, consisting only of a few props and the framework of the stage, becomes in the production a suitable setting for dealing with cruel, painful and difficult themes, which are still often presented as taboo subjects in the year 2021. The sparse stage portrayal reflects a rigid, limited and flawed world in which difference finds no place in everyday life, yet this world is (actingly) inhabited by a huge number of different, creative, other ideas, thoughts and impulses." Nika Šoštarič, Neodvisni
"In directorial terms, the production thus does not represent a departure; its virtue remains the dynamisation of the dramatic action with physical actions. The particular attention to physicality and exhausting staging sets up a powerful and surprisingly effective counterpoint to this highly conversational drama. Short intense scenes with clear and technical editing keep the viewer's gaze focused and fluid."(...) "In this sense, the title character, portrayed by Nejc Cijan Garlatti, is surely the production's greatest strength. His Turing is unexpectedly dramatic, given the format of the production, which creates an incredibly strong contrast to the staging strategy and introduces an actor's transformation that creates an extremely convincing illusion of a dramatic persona for the spectator. Detailed modulated in voice, stutter and stammer, equally precise in body. Garlatti never really stands still." (...) "Despite the relatively fast pace of the production, Garlatti creates distinctly moving and emotive moments that allow the viewer to glimpse the psyche of a solitary individual beyond what he already knows about Turing and surprisingly unencumbered by the wider contexts that the story reveals." (....) "This multitude of outlines operates in the production through the prism of Turing's interlocutor, whoever he may be, the protagonist always sees in him a childhood friend, Christopher, which is why the decision to have all the characters played by one actor seems particularly good. It is in these roles of the ally that Šturbej shines most, excelling in both the fierceness of the physical and the poignancy of the emotional." (...) "La Machine de Turing is an acting powerhouse, which turns away from the expected thematic context of the Second World War and shifts the focus to the tragic position of one of its heroes behind the front lines." Jaka Smerkolj Simoneti, Veza Sigledal
Festivals and tours
Polis Teatro Festival, Ravenna, Italy; 2022
3FEST Festival, Novi Sad, Serbia; 2022
La MaMa Experimental theatre, New York City, USA; 2023
Queer Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia; 2023
