'Wooden and stilted': Lily Cole's stage debut in The Seagull for Cambridge University leaves the audience disappointed
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She was given rave reviews after making the jump from model to movie star in her first leading role in The Imagination of Doctor Parnassus.
But unfortunately for model Lily Cole, her stage debut wasn't as well received after she left audiences 'disappointed' with her performance.
Cole, 22, is starring in The Seagull at Cambridge University where she is studying History of Art.
She plays Nina in the adaptation of Anton Chekhov's 1896 play in the student production.
But the despite two mixed first reviews, the audience proved to be her biggest critic when they said Cole was 'the weakest link' in the production.
One theatre-goer said: 'The cast were very professional and the play was really well acted, but sadly I felt that Lily was the weakest link.
'She appeared to be very nervous to start with and you could see the pressure is on for her to perform well.
Unfortunately her posture was quite wooden, her dialogue seemed quite stilted and her acting was very exaggerated.
'It was quite disappointing, but it must be hard as everyone is focusing on her.'
Lily, who is studying History of Art at King's College and is in her third and final year, has been rehearsing for the show since the beginning of term.
The sold out show runs for five days at the university's ADC Theatre, Britain's oldest University playhouse and where many famous actors acted at the start of their careers, including Emma Thompson, Ian McKellen and Sir Derek Jacobi.
The new version of the play has been written by third-year student Simon Haines, who plays Trigorin, the character who kisses Cole's character passionately in Act Three.
In this adaptation Lily's character Nina is a landowner's daughter kept on a tight rein by her mother and stepfather, but who holds dreams of becoming an actress.
Lily, who was discovered at the age of 14 by actor Benjamin Hart who told her she should be a model, has been the face of advertising campaigns for Chanel, Hermes and Christian Lacroix.
She first appeared on the big screen in the 2007 film St Trinians but then landed her first leading role in Terry Gilliam's fantasy film The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus with Heath Ledger.
Lily, who recently told Vogue UK that acting has been her passion since she was 'very, very young', was also recently cast as Alice in Marilyn Manson's fantasy horror film, Phantasmagoria: The Visions of Lewis Carroll, but the production has reportedly been discontinued.