Libretto

A

B

C

ADA

MUSICIAN

WRAPPER

WIKIPEDIA

CHOIR

A
Ada who?

B
Ada Lovelace.

C
She loves lace? What lace?

B
No, Ada Lovelace.

A
Who’s Ada Lovelace?

CHOIR
Who’s Ada Lovelace?
Who’s Ada Lovelace?
There’s a question for us all.
Who’s Ada Lovelace?
Who’s Ada Lovelace?
Her name is on a wall.
Who’s Ada Lovelace?
Who’s Ada Lovelace?
Anyone here know who?
Who’s Ada Lovelace?
Who’s Ada Lovelace?
They’ve got a project to do.

A
Wikipedia will tell us.

B
Wikipedia will tell us what?

C
Wikipedia will tell us this:

WIKIPEDIA
“Ada Lovelace was an English mathematician and writer, chiefly known for her work on Charles Babbage's proposed mechanical general-purpose computer, the Analytical Engine. She is believed by some to be the first to recognise that the machine had applications beyond pure calculation, and to have published the first algorithm intended to be carried out by such a machine. As a result, she is often regarded as the first to recognise the full potential of computers and as one of the first computer programmers."

B
It says here she lived in Ealing.

C
Where?

A
Hanger Lane.

C
The Hanger Lane gyratory?

B
My mum had a friend called Ada and she lived by Ealing Broadway Station.

A
Hanger Lane House. And Fordbrook House.

C
On her own?

B
With her mother, Lady Byron.

C
Where was her father?

CHOIR
Where was her father?
Who was he?
Where was Ada’s father?
Had he gone to sea?
Who was her father?

Is he someone we know?
Where was her father?
And why did he go?

B
Lord Byron. Her dad was Lord Byron.

A
Are you going to look him up on Wikipedia too?

WIKIPEDIA
Don’t. My bit on Lord Byron is much too long. Just say, he was a poet. And you know about them... they go on and on and on and on and —

C
Did she ever meet him?

B
No, it says here — not Wikipedia, he died in Greece when she was eight.

A
Still, she had her mother.

B
Kind of.

C
What does that mean?

B
It says here that she was...

ADA LOVELACE
“Mostly brought up by my grandmother...”

A, B, C
What’s that? Who said that? Where did that come from?

ADA
It’s me. Ada.
You said I was the forerunner to computer programming. You’re right. I’m in the computer.

CHOIR
She’s in the computer.
Does it really suit’er?
to be in the computer?
She looks like a TV drama
surveying the panorama
like a noble lady farmer
a landscape, a view
not doing zoom
or anything so new...

A
This is well weird, man.

ADA
...and you called me up.

B
I did?

ADA
Algorithms, young lady. You used the right algorithm and here I am. Now what?

A
Can you do our project for us?

ADA
That would be cheating.

B
Just a few details?

ADA
Have you got that bit about how I got the measles?

C
No.

ADA
I was so sick with it, I became paralysed.

A
Did your mum love you?

ADA
[SILENCE]

— Page 3