Photograph 51 (play)

Photograph 51
Written byAnna Ziegler
Characters
Date premiered5 September 2015
Place premieredNoël Coward Theatre
Original languageEnglish
GenrePlay
SettingKing's College London
London

Photograph 51 is a play by Anna Ziegler. Photograph 51 opened in the West End of London in September 2015.[1] The play focuses on the often-overlooked role of X-ray crystallographer Rosalind Franklin in the discovery of the double helix structure of DNA while working at King's College London.[2][3] This play won the third STAGE International Script Competition in 2008.[4] The title comes from Photo 51, the nickname given to an X-ray diffraction image taken by Raymond Gosling in May, 1952, under the supervision of Rosalind Franklin.[5] The one-act play runs for 95 minutes with no intermission.

Photograph 51 was commissioned, developed, and given its world premiere under the direction of Mary Resing by Active Cultures Theatre in Maryland in 2008. That year, it also won the 2008 STAGE (Scientists, Technologists and Artists Generating Exploration) International script competition for Best New Play. Photograph 51 had subsequent productions at The Fountain Theatre in Los Angeles, Ensemble Studio Theatre in New York, Theater J in Washington DC, Seattle Repertory Theatre in Seattle, amongst many others,[6] then in London's Noël Coward Theatre, in the West End, directed by Michael Grandage.[7] The play premiered in Australia in Melbourne in 2019.[8]

  1. ^ Furness, Hannah (6 September 2015). "Nicole Kidman: standing ovation as fans flock to Photograph 51". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 30 October 2015.
  2. ^ Kuchment, Anna (January 2011), "For Whom the Nobel Tolls: An evening out with James Watson and colleagues", Scientific American, vol. 304, no. 1, Nature America, p. 27, doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0111-27
  3. ^ Cox, Gordon (23 April 2015). "Nicole Kidman to Star on West End in Photograph 51". Variety. Retrieved 25 August 2015.
  4. ^ "Ziegler's Photograph 51 Wins STAGE International Script Competition". American Theater Web News. 5 August 2008. Archived from the original on 27 September 2015. Retrieved 25 August 2015.
  5. ^ "Due credit". Nature. 496 (7445): 270. 18 April 2013. doi:10.1038/496270a. PMID 23607133.
  6. ^ "Anna Ziegler". Anna Ziegler. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
  7. ^ Sherwin, A. (2015, September 9). "Photograph 51, homenaje a mi padre y a otros científicos reconocidos": Arrojar luz sobre la desigualdad para las mujeres en ese ámbito, otra razón: Kidman. La Jornada, p. 9a, La Jornada de enmedio, Espectáculos, Sp. trans. Jorge Anaya.
  8. ^ Woodhead, Cameron (11 November 2019). "MTC's Photograph 51 captures a forgotten hero of science". The Age. Retrieved 16 December 2022.