Nicole Kidman will return to the London theatre stage in September to play British scientist Rosalind Franklin in Photograph 51, 17 years after the Hollywood actress made her West End debut.

The play, by Anna Ziegler, tells the story of Franklin, whose use of X-ray diffraction images led to the discovery of DNA’s double helix structure in 1953.

Kidman debuted on the British stage in the 1998 David Hare play The Blue Room at London’s Donmar Warehouse in a critically-acclaimed performance. She was nominated for an Olivier Award, London’s premiere theatre awards, for her role.

The play, which will be staged at the Noel Coward Theatre from September 14 to November 21, sees the return of Grandage’s theatre company to the West End following a successful run of productions in 2013-14 such as Henry V , starring British actor Jude Law.