You don’t have to be an expert on Alan Turing, the British math genius widely considered the father of the modern computer, to enjoy Snoo Wilson’s engrossing and obsessive “Lovesong of the Electric Bear,” but it helps.
Those unfamiliar with the mathematician’s life and lifelong demons might find themselves at sea in this sprawling tale of code breaking during World War II, the early days of computer technology, smothering mothers, and taboo homosexuality. Yet, even if your knowledge of modern computers begins and ends with your Dell, there is much to savor in Mr. Wilson’s play and the Potomac Theatre Festival production, under the astute guidance of director Cheryl Faraone.
Mr. Wilson has chosen to tell of Mr. Turing (Aubrey Deeker) from the perspective of his teddy bear, Porgy (Tara Giordano), a nod to the man’s childishness, much in the mold of Mozart. Porgy seems to be stuffed with stronger stuff than the ethereal Turing and is dynamically portrayed by Miss Giordano as a stoutly exuberant and often ribald survivor who takes his “master” on a tour of his life.
Mr. Turing’s favorite movie was “Snow White,” and it makes sense that he committed suicide by eating an apple dipped in cyanide in 1954 after being convicted for homosexual acts and losing his security clearance. Miss Faraone underscores his love of wistful, fairy-tale imagination with musical selections from “Snow White,” “Pinocchio” and “Peter Pan.”
Both Mozart and Mr. Turing were geniuses who stubbornly clung to boyishness. Mr. Turing seemed peculiar even by math whiz standards — and not just because of his controlling mother (the excellent Valerie Leonard). Constantly gnawing on his nails, appearing tieless and with shirttails hanging out, Mr. Turing was notorious for wearing a gas mask to ward off hay fever and eating grass to sustain himself while running.
His halting speech and lack of social skills marked him as a true outsider, a distinction made deeper by his homosexuality at a time in England — the 1920s through the 1950s — when being homosexual was a crime. For all his eccentricities, Mr. Turing seemed never to lack lovers, a tribute to his genius perhaps more than his personality. Quite open about his sexuality, Mr. Turing had many liaisons with students. Mr. Deeker, an actor of such intensity you often fear for his life, exquisitely captures his character’s beautiful mind as well as his odd allure.
“Lovesong” details the twists and turns of Mr. Turing’s sex life, his extensive work in breaking the codes for German U-boats, his visionary ideas about electronic technology, and his building of a “brain” that thinks as well as computes.
If “Lovesong” had stuck to Mr. Turing’s life, it would have been a wholly fascinating experience. However, Mr. Wilson lets loose a string of quirks, beginning with Porgy constantly expounding on the need for people to honor the ancient gods. Somewhere between the teddy bear factory and Turing’s loving arms, Porgy picked up an encyclopedic knowledge of pagan entities and Shakespeare. It also doesn’t make sense that Porgy can make himself visible to other people at will, and no one seems particularly surprised when a toy bear starts strutting around and giving orders.
The final image in “Lovesong” treads that fine line between deeply moving and making you wonder if the playwright has been spending too much time in the cutesy-poo world of Precious Moments figurines and Boyd’s Bears collectibles.
The play is overwritten in parts and could have used a strong-willed dramaturg to shorten the run-on monologues and cut down on the repetitious scenes. The young actors have varying degrees of success in an assortment of cameo roles, although Meghan Nesmith distinguishes herself as the caring Joan, to whom Mr. Turing was briefly engaged.
Unless you have an advanced degree in physics, much of the higher math in “Lovesong” might fly right over your head — but the impact of Mr. Turing’s accomplishments is immediately, powerfully felt. Here was a man whose life was wracked with tragedy and weirdness, yet he could enter a hushed, pure world of thought, seeing beyond technological and human glitches into the infallibility of numbers and nature.
**1/2
WHAT: “Lovesong of the Electric Bear” by Snoo Wilson
WHERE: Potomac Theatre Project, Olney Theatre, 2001 Olney-Sandy Spring Road, Olney
WHEN: Wednesdays through Sundays, running in repertory with “Somewhere in the Pacific,” “The American Dream,” “Press Conference” and “One for the Road.” Through Aug. 7.
TICKETS: $10
PHONE: 301/924-3400
MAXIMUM RATING FOUR STARS
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