King’s is collaborating with Michael Grandage Company for a one-off charity performance of Photograph 51. The proceeds from the event will be donated to the Cancer Centre at Guy’s Hospital and MGCfutures, the Michael Grandage Company’s education programme. The performance will occur on November 19th at the Noel Coward Theatre, two days before closing night.
The West End production, starring acclaimed actress Nicole Kidman as King’s alumna Rosalind Franklin, has received positive reviews, and marks the Oscar winner’s return to the London stage after seventeen years. Written by Anna Ziegler and directed by Michael Grandage, the play focuses on Franklin’s contribution to the discovery of DNA structure, and the subsequent lack of recognition she received; it was Francis Crick, James Watson and Maurice Wilkins who were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology and Medicine in 1962.
In August, the cast and crew paid a visit to the King’s Archives to view historic artefacts from the DNA research carried out by Franklin and others at King’s during the 1950s. As well as being shown the original slide of Photograph 51, they were given a tour around the old labs situated under the Strand.
This is not the first time Kidman has played a King’s great: she received an Academy Award for her portrayal of Virginia Woolf in The Hours.
