THE DEBUTANTES
The Debutantes is a musical in progress with book and lyrics by Sam Norman and music by Eliza Randall. It is a true story about the women who worked in Bletchley Park, the central site for British cryptanalysts during World War II. Nicknamed the debutantes, or the "debs", these women (around 8,000 from a wide variety of backgrounds) played pivotal roles in the outcome of WWII.
Today, most stories told about Bletchley Park follow the male mathematicians and scientists like Alan Turing, making it seem like the lone wolf effort of a single genius. In reality, Bletchley depended on the strength and collaborative capabilities of its predominantly female workforce.
This musical follows Mavis Lever Batey, the greatest hero nobody has every heard of – a linguist who at the age of 19 joined the debs and became one of the leading codebreakers at Bletchley, instrumental in cracking the Italian Naval Enigma and Abwher Enigma machines, crucial in the success of the D-day landings in 1944.
Due to the secrecy of their work, Mavis and the other debs were unable to talk about their experiences with their parents, spouses, friends, or even children, and their efforts went unrecognized for six decades before the Bletchley Park records were released to the public. Theirs is a story that has been lost to the history books – until now.