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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
Kate Wyver

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

Goran gestures toward Nina as she bends over a trunk, his shadow looming on stage
‘Tell me your trauma’ … Rowan Polonski as Goran and Samantha Begeman as Nina 02. Photograph: Ali Wright

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.

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