“Photograph 51” review by Michael Horn

[rating=5] Photograph 51, by Anne Ziegler, is the third play of the Court Theatre’s 64th season and it is another important and timely production.  When we think of DNA and modern genetics, we always look to Watson and Crick, who discovered the double-helix design for DNA, but there is much more to the story.

It begins In 1951 as Rosalind Franklin,(an outstanding performance by Chaon Cross)  arrives at King’s College in London. She is a PHD chemist, considered an expert in X-ray crystallography, and is hired to set up and improve the X-ray unit at the college. She is a smart, no nonsense, hard working woman who believes she can accomplish anything. She also believes that she will have total independence in her work.  Enter Maurice Wilkins, (a formidable performance by Nathan Hosner), a senior researcher at the college who is already using X-ray crystallography to try to solve the DNA problem. Franklin arrives while Wilkins is away and on his return, Wilkins assumes that she was hired to be his assistant. It was a bad start to a relationship that never gets any better. Throughout the play, Wilkens diminishes Franklin, never giving her equal status.  Franklin, for her part, never truly collaborates with Wilkens and never opens up.  She is considered cold, not feminine, and difficult to work with.  This proves to be detrimental to her work in the end.

However, we do see a slightly softer side of Dr. Franklin when Don Caspar, (nicely played by Yousof Sultani), a PHD student from America arrives.  He had written to Franklin asking for advice and ultimately gets a fellowship to King’s college.  He develops a relationship with his mentor but, unfortunately, his tenure ends and the potential chemistry they have together disappears.

Working with a grad student, Raymond Gosling, (wonderfully portrayed by Gabriel Ruiz), Franklin is able to get two sets of high-resolution photos of crystallized DNA fibers, the most notable being Photograph 51.   She deduces the basic size of DNA strands, and that the phosphates are on the outside of what is probably a helical structure. Franklin herself, is methodical and absolute when it comes to developing data and consequently slow in developing her theory of DNA, never wanting to err.  She also is resistant to building models of molecules and sharing her data, but her assistant, Gosling, secretly reveals Photograph 51 to Wilkens.

James Watson (played by Alex Goodrich) and Francis Crick (played by Nicholas Harazin)were friends of Maurice Wilkens and were also working on solving the structure of DNA, but they were missing critical chemical information that would be vital in solving the problem.  Then, Wiilkens showed Watson and Crick Franklin’s Photograph 51, without her knowledge, and the rest is history.

This is one slick and mesmerizing production finely directed by Vanessa Stalling. The timing is excellent and the transitions from scene to scene perfectly paced.  The set by Arnel Sancianco is a thing of beauty, a science lab surrounded by lines of diagrams, molecule models, projection screens, and 2 staircases mimicking the double helix!

The strong cast, led by Chaon Cross and Nathan Hosner, are effortless and keep the audience engaged at every turn. Key sequences are delivered with elan and the audience never loses focus.

Photograph 51 is a powerful historical examination of gender, power, and ambition set squarely in the scientific world where women were rare and not taken seriously. It inquires about what could have been had society been different and women were encouraged to excel in the sciences, and it focuses on the relationships that develop around those biases.

Photograph 51 will run through February 17, 2019

Schedule:    Wed/Thurs/Fri:     7:30PM

                   Sat/Sun:                2:00PM & 7:30PM

Location:      Court Theatre, 5535 S. Ellis Avenue, Chicago, IL

Tickets:       $50-$74 Box Office: (773) 753-4472 or www.Courttheatre.org

FREE Parking is available in the garage next to the theater.

To see what others are saying, visit www.theatreinchicago.com, go to Review Round-Up and click at “Photograph 51”