MARIS Stella old girl Nicole Snell’s dreams have taken off and flown her to international stages where she is flying the Durban flag high in performing arts.

Reflecting on her school motto while sitting in a Dubai airport on March 25, as she waited for her connecting flight to Durban from London, Snell said, “Suspice Confide – look up and trust” had never felt more relevant.

“The timing was perfect, the school was staging its musical production of Legally Blonde, and with the help of her former teacher, Mrs Danielle Tennant, and Drama teacher, Ms Lerushca Smit, I was invited to speak to the girls about my journey in the performing arts, so far,” said Snell.

After two years away in London where she is developing her name in theatre, Snell said she was honoured to return to Maris Stella as a guest speaker. Her visit to her alma mater allowed for Snell to reconnect with the girls, answering their questions and sharing the lessons she had learned along the way.

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“It was a chance to give back to the school that helped shape me,” said Snell, whose stage name is Nicole Monroe as she intends it to be a household name one day.

Snell’s love of musicals began at an early age as grew up singing along to classics like Fiddler on the Roof, The Sound of Music, Oklahoma! and My Fair Lady. In Grade 4, during a music lesson, she was the only learner who recognised “Sunrise, Sunset” from Fiddler on the Roof, a moment that led to her first solo performance in the school chapel.

“She was terrified, but it sparked a passion that never left her,” said her father, Robert Snell.

At school, Nicole sang in the choir under the late Mrs Du Plessis and later joined the KwaZulu-Natal Youth Choir, performing alongside Dhenishta Chetty, the current Musical Director for the school’s production of Legally Blonde.

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A standout memory was the KZN Youth Choir’s category win at the Summa Cum Laude Music Competition in Vienna in 2019. Prior to that, she earned the Best Actress award for the Maris Stella House Plays in 2015, before graduating Cum Laude with a BA in Live Performance from AFDA Durban.

In 2023, she auditioned for the Royal Academy of Music, Leeds Conservatoire and the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. To her amazement, she received a conditional offer from the Royal Academy of Music and a full offer from Leeds Conservatoire, the latter of which she accepted.

She graduated with her Master’s degree last year and has since been working full-time in London’s immersive theatre scene, including the hugely popular Paddington Bear Experience and The Traitors: Live Experience. Her work has even brought her into contact with celebrities, most memorably Tom Holland and Zendaya, whom she assisted during their visit. “I was definitely fangirling,” she said.

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