(Nicole Monroe. Pic
supplied)
From Playhouse Passion Play to London's West End: Nicole
Monroe's mission to showcase South African talent
The toddler who appeared in the 2000 Durban Passion Play is now a professional performer in London - and building bridges for KZN artists.
Twenty-six years ago, when the Durban Catholic Players' Guild staged their millennium Passion Play at the Playhouse Drama Theatre, few in that remarkable cast of 130+ volunteers would have imagined that one of the toddlers in the crowd scenes would one day be working professionally in London's theatre district. But that's exactly where Nicole Snell - now performing under the stage name Nicole Monroe — finds herself today, and her story represents something significant about the calibre of talent the KZN arts community continues to produce.
Nicole's journey from that 2000 Passion Play to London's immersive theatre scene reads like a testament to the kind of thorough, multi-disciplinary training that has always been a hallmark of Durban's performing arts education. After graduating from Maris Stella (where she won Best Actress for the House Plays in 2015), she read Live Performance at AFDA Durban, graduating Cum Laude and winning dual Best Actress awards — for both film and stage — in her graduating year. That kind of recognition from AFDA, South Africa's premier performance school, doesn't come easily.
But it's what happened next that makes Nicole's story particularly relevant to our theatre community. Rather than seeing her AFDA success as the endpoint, she used it as a stepping stone to postgraduate conservatoire training in the UK, earning her Master's degree from Leeds Conservatoire.
(Right: Nicole’s first stage appearance as a baby in the Passion Play)
Now she's working professionally with major UK producers like Selladoor Worldwide (known for touring West End productions) and Immersive Everywhere, in productions including The Paddington Bear Experience and The Traitors: Live Experience.
What strikes one most about Nicole's approach is how deliberately she's building not just her own career, but pathways for other South African performers. She and her collaborators have established UK production companies — Nicole Monroe Ltd and Flyinghippocrockaduck Ltd — specifically focused on developing projects that can showcase South African talent in the international market in the future. This isn't just career ambition; it's the desire to foster a cultural ambassadorship of the kind our arts community has always prided itself on.
The timing is significant. There are over 235,000 South African-born residents in the UK, yet their stories remain largely untold on British stages and screens. Nicole represents a generation of SA-trained performers who recognise this as an opportunity rather than an obstacle. Her background — from competitive choral singing (she won first place at the Summa Cum Laude Festival in Vienna in 2019 as part of the KZN Youth Choir) through to her work at the Durban Playhouse in productions like August: Osage County — gives her the credentials to open doors for others.
What is particularly impressing is how Nicole navigated the pandemic period. While many performers simply waited for the industry to reopen, she pursued what she calls "purposeful parallel development" — teaching English online, training as a bodybuilding coach, and even competing in IFBB bodybuilding (achieving second place in KZN). This might seem tangential to theatre, but anyone who understands physical performance knows that this kind of body discipline and stage presence under scrutiny directly translates to professional performing skills.
Her recent return to Durban to speak at Maris Stella about her London experience wasn't just a nostalgic homecoming — she was ‘giving back’ and maintaining a connection with the community that shaped her while building international bridges. The girls she spoke to aren't just learning about career possibilities; they're seeing first-hand that the training they're receiving right here in KZN is internationally competitive.
Nicole's professional registration with Equity and her listing on Spotlight — the UK's primary casting database — represent something more than individual achievement. They signal that South African-trained performers can take their place as equals in the UK industry, not as novelty acts or typecasts, but as versatile professionals with distinctive training and perspective.
What is most exciting about her story is the forward momentum. The production companies she's establishing suggest she's thinking beyond individual roles to creating content that can employ South African artists and tell South African stories for international audiences. That's the kind of cultural export strategy our arts community has always needed more of.
From that first stage appearance as a baby in the Passion Play to her current work developing prospective productions in London, Nicole's journey exemplifies something essential about KZN's contribution to the performing arts world. We don't just train artists; we develop cultural ambassadors who carry our stories, our training methods, and our collaborative spirit to stages across the globe.
The little girl who appeared in the crowd scenes of the 2000 Passion Play is now creating space for the next generation of South African performers to find their own international stages. That's a legacy the Durban Catholic Players' Guild — and all of us who've been part of this community over the years — can be genuinely proud of.
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