Tale of forgotten woman behind DNA discovery
BENGALURU : One of the most disheartening feelings is when you’ve worked extremely hard on something, and someone else gets the credit. Can you imagine the pain you’d feel if someone went on to win a Nobel Prize for a lot of your hard work and research? Bringing these emotions to life is a play on the exclusion of scientist Rosalind Franklin from the momentous discovery of the structure of the DNA. In history books, we were told that it was James Watson and Francis Crick who discovered the ‘secret to life’ in 1953 England, which was considered the breakthrough discover of the 20th century.
So why wasn’t Rosalind given her due credit, and how did she cope with this exclusion? This is what audiences will get to witness through Photograph 51, an award-winning play by American playwright Anna Ziegler, which is being produced and performed for the first time in India. Photograph 51 is the 16th play being performed by Bangalore Little Theatre’s (BLT) ‘History of Ideas’ programme, which is all about bringing to stage the lives of great personalities who have gone down in history.
Talking about the play, Sridhar Ramanathan, director, says, “This is a significant, high-profile play that speaks about the significant event that changed the way people thought about and understood evolution and life. Franklin’s work was seminal in discovering the structure of DNA. In fact, all the data that Crick and Watson took credit for was the effort of Franklin,” he says, adding that it was incredible how after an interaction with Ziegler, BLT got the rights to perform the play overnight.
While one would think that this play would be loaded with biological jargon, Sridhar says that they have focused on the drama of science, so as to connect with the audience better. “We’ve tried to look at office politics and inter-personal relations, and understand the emotions in the entire episode, rather than look at it from a science perspective. And while it does highlight the gender issue, the idea is to present Franklin as a great scientist who was pushed aside – I think this is also the strength of our play,” says Sridhar.
Snigdha Kundu, who plays the role of Franklin, says, “The play focuses on the drama behind the race to a discovery that was so important, yet it is a story that most people are unfamiliar with. It highlights ranklin’s efforts in science when these doors were still unopen for women. But what makes it relevant even now is that women are still fighting for their identities in male-dominated industries. The script is beautifully written and I connected with the character on multiple levels.”The play is premiering at Alliance Francaise on July 22 at 7.30pm, with more performances lined-up for July 27,28 and 29. Tickets are available on bookmyshow.com and at the venue.