Kidman doing it for Dad

Nicole Kidman also wants to spotlight inequality suffered by women in science. Photo / AP

Actress treads boards to acknowledge scientists who quietly go about their work

Hollywood star Nicole Kidman has said she took on her new West End role as a scientist to acknowledge the work done by her late biochemist father.

The 48-year-old Oscar-winner is returning to the theatre with Photograph 51, playing Rosalind Franklin, who had a crucial role in identifying the structure of DNA but has been relatively overlooked by history.

Speaking at a press conference at the Noel Coward Theatre where the play is being staged, Kidman said she spent her childhood in laboratories because of her father Dr Antony Kidman's work.

The Australian actress said: "My father passed away last year on September 12.

"This is my way of acknowledging him and acknowledging people in science who quietly go about their work and aren't acknowledged a lot of the time.

"He knew I was going to do it so I would like to think he is somewhere offering support."

Theatre-goers have raved about previews ahead of the play's opening night on September 14, but Kidman admitted that taking to the stage again was a daunting experience.

"I think nerves get more as you get older. I would love to say they get less but they don't. My heart was pounding and that rush of adrenalin, it's an extreme feeling," she said.

"Getting out there on the stage is the big thing but once you're out there it was unbelievable.

"I suppose I believe in the play and the actors and that's so much of what theatre is - you just have to believe in what you're doing and once you trust that, everything else hopefully falls into place."

Kidman said another reason for doing the play was to place a spotlight on inequality suffered by women in science.

Ms Franklin's work was never formally recognised and she died from ovarian cancer in 1958, aged 37.

Francis Crick and James Watson continued her efforts, and in 1962 were awarded the Nobel Prize with her colleague Maurice Wilkins.

Kidman's new turn comes 17 years after her last theatre performance in the capital, when she appeared in David Hare's The Blue Room.

"I wanted to come back to London because my memory of London was so good and I feel very at home here," she said.

- PA