In the new production, the Oscar-winning actress stars as Rosalind Franklin, a molecular biologist who played an important role in identifying the structure of DNA, but whose contribution went relatively unacknowledged, while her male colleagues, James Watson, Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins, received a Nobel Prize for their work.

Kidman, whose father was an eminent biochemist, still feels that women are not treated fairly in science, and she hopes the play will help push forward gender equality in the field.

She tells British newspaper The Independent, "There is still an enormous amount of inequality for women, one of the reasons for doing the play was to shine a light on that... Rosalind was not an extrovert. She did not trust other people with her work. She was a quiet, methodical, brilliant person whose massive contribution went unacknowledged. That's not right."

The play's 11-week run at the Noel Coward Theatre began its first previews on Saturday (05Sep15). The production marks Kidman's return to the West End stage after a 17-year absence.