Writer: Caroline Williams
Directors: Deborah Pearson and Caroline Williams
With a familiar theatre red curtain, the stage is already set for this theatrical exploration of Chekhov’s Nina from The Seagull. When the curtain draws back, we see an actor on her mark, ready to audition and taking instructions from the director through a God mic. But when she reaches Chekhov’s line, ‘you should kill me rather’, fiction becomes reality. The power dynamic between the male director and female actor becomes a source of both humour and absurdity, as his increasingly ridiculous demands expose the darker undertones of manipulation. With each opening of the curtain, a new actor auditions and is pushed to increasingly extreme lengths.
As these women are asked to be Nina, the character becomes a compelling vehicle through which to examine the historical and ongoing exploitation of women in the arts. Chekhov’s Nina has an intriguing character arc, much of which unfolds offstage, yet in this play the director wants to bring these experiences onto the stage. Despite the misconception that women can only write from personal experience, it is, in fact, the male director who mines these women’s lives for his own material, deliberately blurring the boundaries between fiction and reality. His methods might be defended as ‘Method’ acting techniques, but they instead expose the murky boundaries of consent between men and women, and between creatives and performers, in the post #MeToo era.
For those familiar with Chekhov’s classic, NINA deconstructs its characters and key moments, drawing the audience in through its multiple parallels and the depth with which it examines each stage of Nina’s journey. Ultimately, William’s exploration reveals an intimacy with a character who is sometimes pushed to the margins. And yet, as the play reaches its climax, it is the performance of women’s most intimate experiences that feels the most violent.
NINA offers a rich exploration of The Seagull by rewarding those familiar with the original. Nevertheless, its metatheatrical framework also exposes the insidious nature of gendered exploitation in the arts, revealing how easily the boundaries between fiction and reality can become a means of control.
Runs until 24 October 2026
