Playwright Anna Ziegler shines a revelatory light on a hitherto hidden figure in the discovery of DNA’s double helix structure in Photograph 51, the latest from South Coast Rep.

The scientist in question is X-ray crystallographer Rosalind Franklin (Helen Sadler), a mere thirty years of age upon her 1951 arrival at King’s College London, where she soon learns that she is to work under and not beside molecular biologist Dr. Maurice Wilkins (George Ketsios), who adds insult to injury by insisting on being called Dr. Wilkins while she will be Miss Franklin, her Cambridge University Ph.D. be damned.

And so war is declared between the understandably defensive Rosalind and Maurice, whose bumbling efforts at a fresh start awaken only his fellow scientist’s disdain.

Rosalind does find some comfort in exchanging letters with American structural biologist Don Caspar (Josh Odsess-Rubin), who tries to reassure her that it’s worse for women Ph.D.s in America, and she does get to “disappear” from time to time into the Swiss Alps, but for the most part Rosalind’s life is spent in the laboratory as far from Maurice as possible, the colleagues-turned-rivals having agreed to work separately, she on Form A, he on Form B, while in another part of England, Indiana University whiz kid Dr. James Watson (Giovanni Adams) and his fellow molecular biologist Francis Crick (Anil Margsabayam) pursue their own investigations.

Before long, the titular Photograph 51 has revealed “a perfect X”, not only a joyous discovery for Rosalind but a chance for her to “issue a death notice” to Maurice’s Form A, that is until unbeknownst to her, Maurice informs Watson and Crick of her findings, a fact never to be discovered by Rosalind during her lifetime, and an injustice which Ziegler’s play sets out to rectify.

Kimberly Senior directs Photograph 51 as a memory play, and since it’s the men in Rosalind’s life who are doing the remembering, she keeps them on stage at all times, observing even scenes in which they do not take part as Rosalind occasionally disappears from view.

Sadler anchors the production quite magnificently, her Rosalind as inflamed by science as she is icy cold around Maurice, who does indeed give her reason for her disdain, at least initially, and the terrific Ketsios reveals a man as much a victim of his time as he is of his inability not to put his foot in his mouth whenever the not-so-fair Rosalind is around.

Neldam is a boyish charmer as Rosalind’s well-meaning assistant, caught between the two warring scientists and doing his best to survive, and the equally fine Odsess-Rubin reveals the American scientist’s warmth, tenderness, and good heart.

Adams’s folksy Watson and Margsabayam’s quintessentially English Crick are excellent too, though by casting the roles with actors of color, Senior’s production would seem to imply, incorrectly, that while a scientist’s gender or religion (Franklin is both a woman and Jewish) might have been an issue in 1950s England, his race was not.

Scenic designer Cameron Anderson’s stark, dramatically raked set looks like a bear for the actors to perform on, but Jaymi Lee Smith’s lighting and Elisa Benzoni’s period costumes are both absolutely top-notch as is Cricket S. Myers’ snappy sound design.

Still, given a choice between this nearly bare production design and the one featured in Photograph 51’s 2009 West Coast Premiere at L.A.’s Fountain Theatre, whose actors filled its walls with formula upon formula and diagram upon diagram while surrounded by scientific paraphernalia of the era, I’d have to go for the more realistic latter. (On the other hand, the SCR cast do deserve points for effectively miming laboratory actions, credit shared by movement consultant Ken Merckx.)

Ariella Wolfe is assistant director. Holly Ahlborn is production manager. Alyssa Escalante is production stage manager. Kat Zukaitis is dramaturg. Ursula Meyer is accent consultant. Casting is by Joanne DeNaut, CSA.

At at time when science finds itself being lumped into the same category as “fake news” and “facts,” the arrival of Photograph 51 at South Coast Repertory could not be more auspicious. If nothing else, it makes Rosalind Franklin a hidden figure no more.

South Coast Repertory, 655 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa.
www.scr.org

–Steven Stanley
March 17, 2019
Photos: Jordan Kubat/SCR

Tags: Anna Ziegler, Orange County Theater Review, Rosalind Frankliin