Nicole Kidman set to return to West End stage in Michael Grandage production

Nicole Kidman is set to return to the West End stage after a 17 year hiatus.

The 47-year-old actress – whose performance in Sam Mendes’ production of David Hare's The Blue Room at the Donmar Warehouse was described as “pure theatrical Viagra” – will star in Anna Ziegler’s play Photograph 51.

Directed by Michael Grandage, the play is about, Rosalind Franklin - the British scientist who helped to discover the structure of DNA.

Franklin played a key role in the discovery of the double-helix shape of DNA. She died from ovarian cancer aged, 37, and had her research taken on by Francis Crick and James Watson. The pair were later awarded the Nobel prize in 1962.

The play, which is described on Ziegler's website as “a play about ambition, isolation, and the race for greatness”, also asks: "If the double helix was the breakthrough of the 20th century, then what kept Franklin out of the history books? "

Kidman said last year that she had been "determined" to return to the London stage but that, "Life and other work have conspired to keep me away."

It is not clear which theatre will stage the production.