NINA
A new play by Caroline Williams
A BAC Production
Information
Times: 7:30pm, 2:30pm
Tickets: Pay What You Can (Recommended Price £16)*
*All orders subject to a £2 transaction fee
Running Time: 1 hour and 30 minutes (no interval)
Age Recommendation: 16+
This event takes place in our Council Chamber
Co-directed by Deborah Pearson and Caroline Williams
“I’m a seagull. No, that’s not right. I’m an actress.”
A series of actresses audition to play Nina in The Seagull for a charismatic, yet sinister director. His methods are unorthodox, annihilating, and very effective.
In a debut play from celebrated director Caroline Williams, co-directed by award-winning artist Deborah Pearson, NINA questions why so many women are drawn to play an actress who has everything taken away from her by men. And why do the men in Chekhov’s original play keep trying to turn the girls they fancy into dead seagulls?
In a post #MeToo era, NINA is a meta theatrical fever dream on coercion, power and the quest for creative expression.
“Real brilliance. I rarely leave the theatre feeling so deeply impacted”
★★★★ Time Out
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Biographies
Caroline Williams
Caroline Williams is Associate Artist at Bristol Old Vic. As an award-winning director and maker, her work has been presented at the V&A, National Theatre, Young Vic, English National Opera, Prague Quadrennial, Arnolfini, Shakespeare’s Globe, Bristol Old Vic and Galway International Festival.
Deborah Pearson
Deborah has co-directed shows The Talent (Teatro do Bairro Alto, Cambridge Junction, Battersea Arts Centre and international tour), Inside Bitch (The Royal Court), Post-National (Volcano Productions), The Queen West Project (Theatre Passe Muraille), and the feature film Dream Agency (premiered at Edinburgh International Film Festival). The Talent won an Offie for best performance and was nominated for an Offie for Best Production, and a Chinese language production is currently being created at Shanghai Dramatic Arts Centre. Dream Agency won several prizes including Best Feature at the Aarhus Film Festival in Denmark. As a live artist and playwright, her work has toured to galleries, theatres and festivals in over thirty countries internationally on every continent but Antartica. Her plays have been produced by the Royal Court, The Yard, the National Theatre of Portugal under Tiago Rodrigues, and are published by Oberon. She is founder and co-director of the artist-led curation collective Forest Fringe. Deborah and Caroline used to share a studio at Somerset House and last collaborated on the performance installation Make Yourself At Home for Brussels Nuit Blanche.
Creative Team
CREATIVE TEAM
Writer Caroline Williams
Co-directors Deborah Pearson and Caroline Williams
Dramaturg Christopher Brett Bailey
Video Design Daniel Denton
Associate Video Jacob Krumpolc
Lighting Design Marty Langthorne
Composition/Sound Design AJ Turner
Movement Laura Dannequin
Producer Kate Yedigaroff
Casting Director Nadine Rennie CDG
Production Manager Milorad Zakula
Sound Associate Alexander Comana
Artist Wellbeing and Associate Director Linzy Na Nakorn
Set and Costume Designer Tomás Palmer
Associate Designer Set and Costume Victoria Maytom
Outside Eye Martin Hutson
Intimacy Director Abigail Kessel
Company Stage Manager Jenny Campbell
Assistant Stage Manager Ella-Laya Ponter
British Sign Language/English Interpreter Sue MacLaine
CAST
NINA 01 Maya Bartley O’ Dea
NINA 02 Samantha Begeman
NINA 03 Nina Bowers
NINA 04 Gemma Barnett
TIM Joseph Payne
GORAN Rowan Polonski
Developed on Complicité’s Mudlarks International Residency.
Developed with the support of the National Theatre’s Generate Programme and Bristol Old Vic.
Commissioned by Battersea Arts Centre. Made possible with funding from The Peggy Ramsay Foundation and Arts Council England.
A BAC Production
Access
PRE EVENT INFORMATION
This event takes place in person in our Council Chamber. This space is on the first floor, with step-free access via a lift.
If you have booked a ticket you will receive an email from us before your performance detailing important information about your visit.
PERSONAL ASSISTANT/COMPANION TICKETS
If you require the assistance of a friend or helper to attend, we can make a free ticket available for your companion. You can book access companion tickets online or contact the Box Office to book by emailing boxoffice@bac.org.uk.
To book a free access companion online:
- Log in to your account here
- Go to ‘Other preferences’ and tick ‘I require a personal assistant/companion’.
- Choose the performance, date and seats you would like and if you add at least 2 tickets to your basket, then one of these will automatically become free.
PERFORMANCE INFORMATION
There will be BSL Interpreted performances taking place on Thursday 15th October at 7:30pm and Saturday 24th October at 2:30pm. Interpreted by Sue MacLaine.
Content
- Gunshots
- Blood
- Scene depicting masturbation
- Scene depicting childbirth
- Reference to child death
- Reference to abortion
- Depiction of dead animals
- Use of replica firearm
This show is in development and content guidance may be updated.
Please note: There will be a latecomers point approximately 15 minutes into the performance. Readmittance will be permitted at suitable moments during the performance. However, there will be no readmittance during the last 20 minutes of the performance.
We want our shows to be as accessible to as many people as possible.
We offer tickets to most shows on a Pay What You Can basis throughout the year.
Tickets for Council Chamber performances in 2026 start at £12, and we have recommended pricing to help you choose a price that works for you.
We know that ticket price is a huge barrier for some. If you can afford to pay the recommended price or more, choosing to do so supports those that can’t. It makes it possible for us to continue to offer Pay What You Can and welcome those who otherwise wouldn’t be able to attend.
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