The quirky Paperbelle invites her little guests into her cardboard house to play hide-and-seek with her best friend Eric. An unexpected guest (“Colour”) sneaks into the cardboard house and pokes through the windows, pulls the drawers open and strips the roof down... Everyone has a great time and the little guests are amazed and have a lot of fun!

In the “paper living room”, little guests can sit freely – either alone or with a family member. They will also be introduced to the properties of the three primary colours through interactive games and will be able to activate their creativity in the minimalist cardboard room.

Like many of Frozen Charlotte’s productions, Paperbelle developed from a residency we did with nursery aged children. I did a workshop with a cut out silhouette of a girl made of paper. I was fascinated by how much the children invested in the character even though she had no features or indicated personality. The children gave her the name “Paperbelle” and two years later Frozen Charlotte developed this idea into a show.

We wanted to create a 360-degree world in which the children were the centre. The paper world was a big inspiration and provided much stimulus for us to work from. We were also keen to develop a set that would provide children with a high-quality theatrical experience in any space, including schools and nurseries.

By Heather Fulton