ANDI CROWN
Comfrey Saunders
Sharing the love of art Growing up in a house surrounded by art and artists, it isn’t surprising that Comfrey Sanders is most at home on the stage. Judene Edgar sits down with Comfrey to talk life, art and performing.
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n Nelson, she’s possibly best known as the daughter of Bridget and Roger Sanders, but across New Zealand and the globe, she is regarded as a formidable actor with a string of successful shows and international tours under her belt. Originally from the UK, her family packed their bags and brought their two young daughters to New Zealand for a holiday. They bought an old-school, pop-top Kombi van and travelled around the country. In Nelson, Bridget a visual artist and Roger a storyteller and musician, found a thriving arts community, so as artists themselves they felt at home and decided to put down roots. Initially settling in The Glen and going to Hira School, they shifted into central Nelson in time for Comfrey to go to Nelson Intermediate. It was there that her creativity started. “I was looking for extra-curricular activities and found live theatre,” Comfrey says. “There happened to be a cool confluence of me looking and finding a lot of musical theatre for young people at that time.”
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October 2021
The path wasn’t necessarily a straight one as she tried piano, flute and even rock climbing along the way, but she found her voice when she joined the Nelson Youth Theatre. Along with her younger sister Rose, they were both in the choir in their first Youth Theatre production, Les Miserables. From there she joined SoundStage, Nelson’s music and performing arts school, along with singing lessons and a youth choir. Naturally, she says her parents were always encouraging her and sharing different artforms with her. “My parents also introduced me to foreign cinema and beautiful art-house films. Through their love of the arts, it opened my mind and heart to cinema, storytelling and theatre.” Somewhat surprisingly, even to herself, she then developed a love for Shakespeare. “I have dyslexia so I didn’t enjoy reading when I was younger, but once I found Shakespeare something clicked, and it came to life for me,” she says. At Nelson College for Girls, she competed in the annual
