Hello Nicole and Hayley, let’s start at the beginning of Paperwork, how did you meet, and why did you want to set up a company together?
Believe it or not, we met while working at the Everyman and Playhouse! 

I (Hayley) was working in the Literary dept and Nic was working in the Outreach team. We were watching all this brilliant work on the stages where we worked and wanted a piece of the action as well! So we set up Paperwork in 2014 and then, we were making work which popped up in all kinds of spaces and places - in disused warehouses, in children's libraries and even in red telephone boxes. A lot of the time, we invite our audiences to interact with our work - watching our work is never a passive experience.

The thing that links all our shows together is our creative process - we start by asking the question "what does the world need right now?" and that shapes the stories we tell and where we stage them. Now we're back where it all began, at the Everyman for our first main stage debut. 

Can you describe Paperwork in three words?
Only three?! Paperwork is bold, ambitious and joyful. When we talk about the shows we make, we describe them as being full of humanity (sorry, I couldn't stop at three words!)

What are your main goals as a company?
We're super proud to be theatre makers, living, working and creating in the North West. We collaborate with and champion talent from the region - that will always be a big part of Paperwork's ethos. 
Alongside the shows that we make, we also run a programme of artists opportunities which are a chance for local artists to meet, collaborate and develop their skill set because we think that sharing knowledge and helping to demystify the industry will make our creative community stronger.  

We’re passionate about opening up theatre experiences to people from all walks of life so we run community projects all year around which are a chance for people to come together and connect with one another by taking part in arts activities. We believe that taking part in arts and culture in this way can help improve our health and wellbeing so we want to open these opportunities up to as many people as we can. 

Looking to the future, we're keen to start sharing our shows with audiences from across the UK. As well as creating live theatre, we are also working across digital platforms and over the next couple of years, that's something we'd like to be exploring a bit more. 

paperworktheatre.co.uk

Deep Blue is at the Everyman from Thu 20 Oct to Sat 22 Oct 2022