Stephen Campbell Moore Joins Nicole Kidman in West End's PHOTOGRAPH 51

According to the Daily Mail, THE HISTORY BOYS and CHIMERICA's Stephen Campbell Moore has signed on for The Michael Grandage Company's UK premiere of Anna Ziegler's PHOTOGRAPH 51, starring Academy award-winning actress Nicole Kidman as Rosalind Franklin, the woman who discovered the secret to life. The full cast should be set by the end of the month.

PHOTOGRAPH 51 opens at the Noel Coward Theatre on 14 September, with previews from 5 September, and runs until 21 November. Rehearsals for the production will launch in July.

The official synopsis reads: "Does Rosalind Franklin know how precious her photograph is? In the race to unlock the secret of life it could be the one to hold the key. With rival scientists looking everywhere for the answer, who will be first to see it and more importantly, understand it? Anna Ziegler's extraordinary play looks at the woman who cracked DNA and asks what is sacrificed in the pursuit of science, love and a place in history."

Moore, who has also appeared in the West End's ALL MY SONS and CLYBOURNE PARK, will portray Maurice Wilkins, who collaborated with Franklin on some of the early DNA research.

Director and producer Michael Grandage told the Mail that "Wilkins, together with James Watson and Francis Crick, were working in 'this total laboratory hothouse, because they all wanted to crack the DNA code', but within the drama, Wilkins is the biggest male role." He added, "There was a very strong bond between two people working together."

Unlike Watson, Crick and Wilkins, Franklin never received the Nobel prize for her discoveries because the award was made in 1962, four years after she had died from cancer. As a rule, the prize is not awarded posthumously.

Pictured: Stephen Campbell Moore in CHIMERICA in 2013.