By Michele Markarian

‘Photograph 51’ – Written by Anna Ziegler. Directed by Rebecca Bradshaw. Kristin Loeffler, Scenic Designer; Chelsea Kerl, Costume Designer; Elizabeth Cahill, Sound Designer; Aja M Jackson, Lighting Designer. Presented by The Nora Theatre Company, 450 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge through April 15.

Rosalind Franklin (Stacy Fischer) came of age as a scientist during the 40s and 50s, when it was unusual for young women to pursue such a path. 1951 finds the x-ray chrystallographer in a research lab at King’s College, London, where she is assigned the task of working on x-ray diffraction (don’t panic; there is a wonderful glossary of terms in the show’s program). Franklin finds herself in a boys’ club, where her colleague, the awkward Maurice Wilkins (Barlow Adamson) decides to dine in the male-only dining room on his new lab partner’s first day, rather than accompany her to lunch. Unsurprisingly, this gets them off on the wrong foot. 

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