Photo 51 (play)

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Data
Title: Photo 51
Original title: Photographer 51
Genus: history
Original language: English
Author: Anna Ziegler
Publishing year: 2008
Premiere: 2008 (US premiere),
September 5, 2015 (UK premiere)
Place of premiere: Active Cultures Theater, Maryland (USA) and Noël Coward Theater , City of Westminster , London (UK)
Place and time of the action: King's College , London , 1953
people
  • Rosalind Franklin ; a biochemist who discovers X-ray diffraction patterns of DNA
  • Maurice Wilkins ; her opponent, who is fascinated by her work
  • Francis Crick ; Wilkins' old school friend
  • James Watson ; an American scientist who, together with Crick, wants to decipher the structure of DNA in a race against Wilkins
  • Donald Caspar ; a colleague and friend of Franklin's
  • Raymond Gosling ; the protégé of Franklin, who mediates between her and Wilkins.

Photo 51 (original title Photograph 51 ) is a play by Anna Ziegler , which was originally written in English . The protagonist of the play is the biochemist Rosalind Franklin , who, as a specialist in the X-ray structure analysis of crystallized macromolecules at King's College in London, discovers X-ray diffraction diagrams of DNA. The title of the piece refers to Photo 51 , a nickname given to a 1952 photo taken by Raymond Gosling using this technique .

content

The biochemist Rosalind Franklin works at King's College in London. She is developing into a specialist in the X-ray structure analysis of crystallized macromolecules. Franklin is a loner and prefers to work and research for herself rather than together with her exclusively male colleagues, which will soon be at the expense of her work. When one day she succeeds in taking an X-ray of the structure of DNA, which has the shape of a helix, she is unable to correctly interpret her research results and does not immediately recognize that she discovered the X-ray diffraction patterns of DNA through her exposure. The scientist Maurice Wilkins is fascinated by Franklin's work and secretly makes copies of it. He published the results shortly afterwards in a science newspaper.

background

Rosalind Franklin was a biochemist and specialist in the X-ray structure analysis of crystallized macromolecules. A number of other researches and publications were based on her discovery of the X-ray diffraction patterns of DNA. A publication made by Maurice Wilkins in the scientific journal Nature in 1953 was based on the unauthorized adoption of unpublished research by Franklin. Wilkins had secretly made copies of Franklin's work. Francis Crick and James Watson , based on Franklin's research on X-ray diffraction and Wilkins' publications, postulated the double helix model of the molecular structure of deoxyribonucleic acid in order to obtain a spatial model of the DNA double helix. Raymond Gosling worked with Franklin on the basis of their own geometric considerations to develop the fundamentals in the field of fiber diffraction.

Productions

After winning the 2008 STAGE International Script Competition, the Active Cultures Theater-produced play premiered in New York in October 2010 at Ensemble Studio Theater, directed by Linsay Firman, and was later shown at Theater J in Washington, DC , in Seattle Repertory Theater shown in Seattle and many other US theaters. In 2012, the play was performed as part of the Science & Theater project in collaboration with microbiologists and doctoral students from Freie Universität at the English Theater Berlin .

It premiered in the UK on September 5, 2015 at the Noël Coward Theater , City of Westminster , London , directed by Michael Grandage with Nicole Kidman in the lead role. Kidman's father Antony Kidman was a biochemist himself, so the actress, who is actually known from films, decided after his death in September 2014 to accept the engagement for the play.

The German-language premiere took place in January 2017 at the Ernst-Deutsch-Theater in Hamburg. Isabella Vértes-Schütter played the leading role .

Ensemble performing in London

from September 5, 2015 at the Noël Coward Theater

actor

Ensemble of the performance in Hamburg

German-language premiere from January 19, 2017 at the Ernst-Deutsch-Theater

actor

filming

In January 2016 it was announced that Grandage would film the play with Nicole Kidman in the lead role. Grandage had previously worked with Kidman on his film directorial debut, Genius .

reception

Reviews

According to Ben Brantley of The New York Times, Ziegler's piece and Kidman's performance show the boundaries that open up in the life of a Jewish woman in the closed cosmos of Anglo-Saxon men. Kidman cleverly focuses on those details of the character that show the viewer a hidden, vulnerable side of Franklin without making them appear dry.

After the Hamburg premiere, Katja Weise from NDR Kultur spoke of a clever science thriller and a social drama, and the play was full of speed and wit. However, director Hartmut Uhlemann did not find it easy to do so in his well-behaved and sometimes somewhat clumsy production. Brigitte Scholz of the Hamburger Morgenpost says that Uhlemann had worked through the beginning of the piece in a dry, scientific manner, and tension only arose when Franklin's colleague Wilkins, played by Christoph Tomanek , reveals her research results to the competition out of hurt vanity.

Awards

In 2016 Nicole Kidman was nominated for the Laurence Olivier Award for her portrayal of Rosalind Franklin in the performance of Photograph 51 at the Noël Coward Theater . In February 2016, Kidman received the WhatsOnStage Award for Best Actress . The piece itself was named Best New Release .

Web links

Commons : Photo 51  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Photograph 51 by Anna Ziegler coming to Seattle Rep February 1 ( Memento of the original from March 5, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: ensemblestudiotheatre.org, January 14, 2013.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.ensemblestudiotheatre.org
  2. ↑ Kirstin MacLeod: Curtain up for science In: furios-campus.de, February 29, 2012.
  3. ↑ Photograph 51 In: officiallondontheatre.co.uk. Retrieved March 4, 2016.
  4. ↑ Nicole Kidman plays the theater: 'I have to do this for my father' In: Stern Online, April 24, 2015.
  5. ↑ Fate of a brilliant woman - WELT. In: THE WORLD. Retrieved January 12, 2017 .
  6. ↑ Full cast announced for Kidman led Photograph 51 In: londontheatre.co.uk, July 27, 2015.
  7. ^ Ernst Deutsch Theater: single view. In: www.ernst-deutsch-theater.de. January 12, 2017. Retrieved January 12, 2017 .
  8. ↑ After 'Genius' another offer for Nicole Kidman ( memento of the original from March 5, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.zeit.de archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: DIE ZEIT Online, January 13, 2016.
  9. ↑ Alex Ritman: Michael Grandage Talks Injecting Cinematic Excitement Into 'Genius', Planning a 'Photograph 51' Film In: The Hollywood Reporter, February 15, 2016.
  10. ↑ Ben Brantley: Review: In 'Photograph 51,' Nicole Kidman Is a Steely DAN Scientist In: The New York Times, September 14, 2015.
  11. ↑ Katja Weise: Smart science thriller about DNA researchers In: NDR Kultur, January 20, 2017.
  12. ↑ Brigitte Scholz: 'Photo 51' in the Ernst-Deutsch-Theater. Drama about the woman who decoded the DNA In: Hamburger Morgenpost, January 21, 2017.
  13. ↑ Olivier awards 2016: complete list of nominations In: theguardian.com, February 29, 2016.
  14. ↑ Charlotte Marshall: Nicole Kidman Wins WhatsOnStage Award In: officiallondontheatre.co.uk, February 22, 2016.