X-ray crystallography? Not everyone’s idea of a good night out. But American writer Anna Ziegler’s crisply written and insightful drama is rich and zingy enough to keep even the most science-phobic among us on the hook.

First produced in 2008 (and later staged on the West End with Nicole Kidman in the title role), Anna Ziegler’s Photograph 51 is a compelling portrait of the British scientist Rosalind Franklin and the world she worked in.

Gareth Yuen and Amber McMahon in Photograph 51, Ensemble Theatre, 2022. Photo © Teniola Komolafe

Franklin’s name should be better known. A leader in the field of X-ray crystallography and instrumental in the study of the atomic structure of DNA, her work is key to the genetics revolution. Without her, the world-famous work of James Watson and Francis Crick – who have significant roles in this story – would not have appeared when and how it did.

We first encounter Franklin (played by Amber McMahon) as she farewells a beloved Parisian research lab and moves her work to London’s King’s College.

It’s 1951, the city is still in its dour, part-destroyed post-war condition, and women are expected to...