Review: ILLICIT SIGNALS BLETCHLEY, Parabolic Theatre & Mechanical Thought - CRYPT, Bethnal Green
Photo credit: Dev Danzig
Besties, we would love to tell you all about our experience of Parabolic Theatre and Mechanical Thought’s Illicit Signals Bletchley, but we couldn’t possibly - we had to sign the official secrets act before we were allowed in!
Oh, ok - we will…but in the very strictest confidence! Careless talk costs lives, and there is a very suspicious looking man wondering round asking too many questions… We may have been drawn too far into the immersion of the show!
On approaching The Crypt, one could be forgiven for thinking they are in rural Buckinghamshire - the leafy trees and the smartly dressed gentleman strolling around the courtyard tipping his bowler hat to all in the vicinity certainly create a positively spiffing and tip top atmosphere to set off the whole evening. Advertised as an immersive piece, the audience are enveloped in the story from the second of arrival. We are invited into the NAFFI canteen and offered era appropriate delicacies such as cloudy lemonade - we have stepped back to 1941.
The Crypt is the perfect venue for the piece, the vaulted underground ceilings really give the feel of being in the Bletchley Park huts, and are also reminiscent of the curved roofs of Anderson shelters. Three smaller rooms off the main space are used to portray the lives and work of the six central characters, all of whom are based on real people who worked at Bletchley Park during World War II.
The costuming, hair and make-up are all perfect - subtle enough to believe that we have just interrupted these people in their day-to-day tasks, and yet perfectly in-keeping with the time period. The rooms are kitted out with desks, benches, filing cabinets and propaganda posters, all adding to the feel of immersion in a time far removed from the present day.
The audience are split from the very start, and depending on which group you are allocated to, you experience a different part of the story. Early on, we receive a crash course in code breaking, and are taught how to decode German messages either using Ciphers or vigenere; they must be decoded in order to move the story along. It gives a real (though much less intense!) idea of the pressure that code breakers were under, and the elation that was experienced when cracking the crib!
The 120-minute piece runs through, although the audience are given times to visit the bathrooms or the NAFFI - with strict instructions not to mention the work of their individual hut to anyone working elsewhere, even within Bletchley Park.
There is not a single weak link in the cast, but special mention must go to Timothy Styles playing Alan Turing and Beth Jay as Mavis, who are both utterly entrancing as their characters.
In the latter half of the story, we are introduced to Major Charles Richards (Christopher Styles), an unlikeable character who tries to dig further into the professional and personal lives of the code breakers only to be thwarted by Dilly Knox (Al Barclay). Much is made of Alan Turing’s homosexuality, which was still a crime in England in 1941, and his friends and colleagues attempts to cover up for him. They are far more concerned in his genius, which is credited with knocking 2-4 years off the duration of the war.
The whole audience is gathered back together for the final scene in which the code breakers receive a message of support directly from Winston Churchill, encouraging them to continue their work and offering whatever support they need in order to break enigma, thus thwarting Major Richards in his attempt to discredit many of them.
As each character exits for the final time, they hand a member of the audience an envelope, containing a short summary of their life and work after the final curtain. These summaries add gravity to the concept that we have been following the lives of real people, not fictional characters.
Illicit Signals Bletchley is a marvellous piece of immersive theatre, an in depth history lesson, a code breaking masterclass and a moving social commentary all rolled into one - what more could anyone want from an evening?
**** Four stars
Reviewed by: Sarah Brown
Illicit Signals Bletchley runs until 28 May, with tickets available here.