Photograph 51
Michael Grandage directs Nicole Kidman in her long-awaited West End return
". It's a commanding, intelligent performance and my only complaint about Anna Ziegler's intriguing, informative 95-minute play is that it is not longer."
The Guardian
Michael Grandage directs Nicole Kidman in her long-awaited West End return
Michael Grandage directs Nicole Kidman in her long-awaited West End return
Nicole Kidman returns to the London stage for the first time in 17 years in the UK premiere of Photograph 51. Telling the story of one of modern science's forgotten pioneers, Rosalind Franklin, it marks the Oscar-winning actresses' first West End appearance since her much-talked about turn in The Blue Room. With one of the most varied and acclaimed filmographies of recent times to her name, the Australian's most recent big screen ventures include Paddington, Before I Go to Sleep and Stoker.
Anna Ziegler's play is directed by former Donmar Warehouse Artistic Director Michael Grandage, who has a knack for luring big names to the London stage. His tenure at the Donmar including appearances from Judi Dench, Jude Law and Kenneth Branagh. He also stepped behind the camera last year to direct upcoming historical drama Genius, also starring Kidman, which revolves the famed book editor Max Perkins.
Rosalind Franklin was a tenacious British chemist who more than held her own in the male-dominated scientific field of the 1950s. During her three year fellowship at King's College London she played a crucial, and criminally overlooked, role in the discovery of DNA's Double Helix. Photograph 51 delves into the ambition and all-consuming hunger for discovery which led to this scientific breakthrough, and the reasons why Franklin was for so long nothing more than a historical footnote.
Ms. Kidman's last play in the capital, David Hare's erotic The Blue Room, caused quite a stir, and included a brief flash of nudity from Kidman. Charles Spencer of The Telegraph memorably called it "pure theatrical viagra".
Nicole Kidman as Rosalind Franklin
Stephen Campbell Moore as Maurice Wilkins
Will Attenborough as James Watson
Edward Bennett as Francis Crick
Patrick Kennedy as Don Caspar
Joshua Silveras Ray Gosling
Written by Anna Ziegler
Directed by Michael Grandage
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