"Franklin was a tough nut to crack, as her associates are wont to tell you. Still, for all Ziegler’s play––directed by Susan Stroman for Williamstown Theatre Festival’s Season on Audible––does to shame her cohort, and history itself, for dismissing her research, it leaves a void at its core that doesn’t require a microscope to notice.
Franklin was an English scientist whose groundbreaking work went overlooked by a sexist academia bent on the boastful glory of discovery. The play’s title comes from a 1952 X-ray image, taken under her supervision, that proved essential in identifying the double-helix structure of DNA. Despite her essential contributions to the field, she was not awarded the Nobel Prize her close collaborators received.
Ziegler’s dialogue is upfront and descriptive in the way true crime dramatizations tend to be. Here, it achieves an expository charm that seems tailored to be heard."