PHOTOGRAPH 51, Starring Nicole Kidman, to Host Charity Performance

Michael Grandage Company and King's College London today announce a charity performance of Anna Ziegler's Photograph 51 with Nicole Kidmanas Rosalind Franklin.

The event, which takes place on 19 November, celebrates the partnership between Michael Grandage Company and King's College London around the production. All proceeds from the evening's performance will go to support the charitable work of both organisations - the Cancer Centre at Guy's Hospital as part of the World questions|King's answers campaign, and Michael Grandage Company's education work through its charity MGCfutures. Tickets are on sale via the box office from today.

It was at King's College London that Franklin took Photograph 51, which lead to the discovery of DNA, and around which the play is based. During rehearsals, the company visited the King's Archives where they were shown crucial objects to the discovery of DNA including the Philips micro camera used by Rosalind Franklin and Raymond Gosling, letters written between Maurice Wilkins, Francis Crick and Jim Watson, and the original slide of Photograph 51 itself.

Michael Grandage said today, "It has been a huge privilege to collaborate with King's College London, to be given access to the extraordinary archives at King's where our story begins, to view Photograph 51 itself and to benefit from the knowledge and expertise of their academic team. This charity evening enables us to celebrate that relationship and to raise funds for both the Cancer Centre at Guy's Hospital and for MGCfutures - the charitable arm of our company which helps enable us to support new and emerging creative practitioners, develop new young audiences and open up a range of interactive experiences for young people eager to learn more about our industry."

Professor Edward Byrne, President & Principal of King's College London said, "We're delighted to be working in partnership with Michael Grandage Company to give theatregoers the opportunity to both enjoy a performance of this play and contribute to these important causes. Rosalind Franklin was an incredible scientist and her discoveries have led to important medical developments, which we use to this day. It's great that we're able to celebrate her life and contributions to science with this special charity performance."

"The instant I saw the photograph my mouth fell open and my pulse began to race"

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.

Nicole Kidman makes her much anticipated return to the London stage in the role of Rosalind Franklin, the woman who discovered the secret to life,in the UK première of Anna Ziegler's award-winning play. Kidman who leads the company as Rosalind Franklin is joined by Will Attenborough (James Watson), Edward Bennett (Francis Crick), Stephen Campbell Moore (Maurice Wilkins), Patrick Kennedy (Don Caspar) and Joshua Silver (Raymond Gosling).

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