Sarah O’Connell – more people equals more fun

Sarah O’Connell takes laughter seriously. As a comedian and a member of the Nelson Comedy Collective, she’s part of small group of people who are working hard to build a thriving local comedy scene.

She knows that there is an appetite for comedy, with international stars such as Bill Bailey able to attract audiences to venues like the Theatre Royal and Trafalgar Centre, but promoting local comedians is challenging.

“We've got about 20 local comedians who want to perform regularly, but we’ve really only got enough demand for a once-a-month gig. The team at East Street Café, our current venue, are wonderful and supportive, and they’d have us there every Friday night, but we’re just not getting enough people coming to justify it,” she says.

She’s hopeful that the planned Bridge to Better infrastructure upgrade that will enable more people living in the inner city will help boost the local live entertainment scene.

“I think having more people living in the inner city would have a positive flow-on effect for live comedy and music. Because we need the bodies in the restaurants and pubs for the owners to say, ‘Hey, look, we've got people coming, we’ve got a busy, well-staffed venue and we’re making a profit, we can now get the entertainers in.’ If we were getting bigger audiences more regularly, it would mean we would be able to attract well-known New Zealand comedians to perform in Nelson as well,” she says.

“I performed in Christchurch recently and the Christchurch comedians all want to come up. They like coming to Nelson but it's too hit and miss with how many people are coming along to make it worth the trip. Nelson audiences don't book, they just turn up if they want to! If you had a scenario where there were people actually living in the city who wanted to go out and experience live comedy and live theatre, that numbers game would definitely help, a hundred percent.”

There’s a safety in numbers aspect to having more people in town too.

“If it was a hustling, bustling city with more people around and more places open in the evening, there's more safe places to go. I don't feel unsafe walking home after a gig now, but it would be nice to have more people around if I needed them.”

Safety on the streets has another meaning for Sarah. She’s a mum of two young girls, and doesn’t drive, so the family does a lot of walking and cycling.

“I think people don't talk enough about how scary cars can be when you are a cyclist or pedestrian. I used to take my youngest to kindy in a trailer on the back of my bike and sometimes being on the roads felt risky and it felt like the safest option was to ride on the footpath. That’s not ideal but I felt I needed to do whatever was safest.”

Sarah and her daughters live near the city, and quite often walk into town.

“We enjoy the various parks, but they are quite spread out. I think it would be great to have more in the central city that was focused on kids and young families. Even more green spaces, small play parks, and water parks would be awesome. It would be great to have places that cater for everyone. I have friends with children with disabilities, and there isn’t much in the inner city that is suitable for them. There is awesome accessible playground equipment now, so it makes sense that it should be incorporated into any design. More accessible toilets would be fantastic too.”
Her ultimate wish list for the inner city would be a space to both celebrate and create art.

“The arts has a huge role in creating vibrancy and a vibe in the inner city. I would love for Nelson to have a seven day a week arts centre – somewhere where you could do everything from rehearsing to performing. It could cover everything from theatre, dance, music, comedy and even film. Add in a bar and a theatre that seats around 100 people – that would be my dream!”

In the meantime, you can support local comedy by heading to East Street Café – follow the Nelson Comedy Collective on Facebook to find out when their next gig is.

For more on Bridge To Better visit: shape.nelson.govt.nz/bridge-better