Nina review – a riveting series of horribly invasive auditions for The Seagull

The Guardian UK Monday 12 October 2026, 19:00 UTC By Kate Wyver 1 min read

Key Points

Battersea Arts Centre, LondonWomen up for a role as Chekhov’s aspiring actor navigate their meetings with a needling director in a tense showSmile. Say you’re such a big fan. Now do whatever he tells you.

Battersea Arts Centre, London
Women up for a role as Chekhov’s aspiring actor navigate their meetings with a needling director in a tense show

Smile. Introduce yourself. Say you’re such a big fan. Now do whatever he tells you. These are the unspoken rules the women follow as they take turns auditioning in Caroline Williams’ discomforting, rage-fuelled production about men and power and rotting winged roadkill.

The women are auditioning for the role of Nina, the aspiring actor in Chekhov’s The Seagull, in an experimental production directed by sombrely pretentious wunderkind Goran (a brooding Rowan Polonski). Using live-feed cameras in his show, he is the type of director to dismiss the need for an intimacy coordinator while claiming credit for having one in the room.

Nina (PERSON) The Seagull Battersea Arts Centre (ORG) Chekhov (PERSON) Caroline Williams (PERSON) Goran (PERSON) Rowan Polonski (PERSON)

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