Photograph 51: Nicole Kidman's Rosalind Franklin drama 'a triumph'

Back on the London stage for the first time in 17 years, Nicole Kidman has impressed critics as an overlooked DNA scientist in the West End production of Anna Ziegler's play Photograph 51.

The Australia-born Hollywood actress caused a sensation when she briefly appeared nude on the West End in David Hare's The Blue Room, with one critic famously calling her performance "pure theatrical Viagra".

Her new role in Ziegler's award-winning 2008 play, directed here by Michael Grandage, is very different.

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Kidman plays Rosalind Franklin, a steely, no-nonsense female scientist, working in a male-dominated world, who is thought to have discovered the structure of DNA in a photograph, but for a long time received little credit for her role.

While not as headline-grabbing as her previous West End role, Kidman's portrayal of Franklin has won widespread praise from critics.

In The Times, Ann Trenemen writes that from the moment that Kidman appears on stage, "we are in A-list territory". She praises Kidman's "pared-down intensity" and "perfect English accent that never distracts".

Kidman is "superb", Trenemen concludes. "This is pure theatrical DNA."

Dominic Cavendish in the Daily Telegraph is similarly impressed. "By turns icily impatient and glowering, but thawing too for telling moments, Kidman brilliantly suggests an intelligent woman compacted of porcelain and steel." He sums up the production as "a triumph".

Michael Billington in The Guardian joins the chorus of approval. Photograph 51 is "a fascinating story", he says, and "Kidman's performance captures the complexities in Franklin's character".

It's a "commanding, intelligent performance", adds Billington, whose only quibble about Ziegler's "intriguing, informative 95-minute play is that it is not longer".

Stephen Dalton in the Hollywood Reporter strays from the herd with a note of criticism. He praises Kidman as "reliably intense", but is less impressed by Ziegler's play or Grandage's production.

Grandage has a long track record of starry productions, "yet Photograph 51 feels oddly staid and conventional", says Dalton, "perhaps because Ziegler's play is essentially a middling blend of straight bio-drama and high-school science lesson".

Dalton adds that "without Kidman's marquee appeal, it would feel a little dowdy for the West End" and the fact that the play is already heavily booked for much of its three-month run is "a testament to celebrity power more than to strong writing or great directing".

At the Noel Coward theatre until 21 November.