The Fetch Theatre

The Fetch Theatre has taken influences from the traditional art form of Banraku puppetry and used it to visualise characters and create highly charged theatrical imagery within our shows.

The Fetch Theatre is led by Artistic Director Purvin who has many years experience of directing and designing for the professional stage. He is also an internationally renowned puppeteer and puppet maker. Purvin’s work is visual rather than word based. He has developed, over time, a unique style of telling stories with few or no words. He is also committed to passing on his skills and passion for Banruku puppetry to all ages, abilities and backgrounds.

Purvin studied Theatre design at Nottingham Trent University, worked with  Horse and Bamboo on their horse-drawn tour of Scotland and Northern Ireland and later became Co-artistic Director of Pentabus Theatre for seven years. At Pentabus, he designed and produced a plethora of unforgettable touring shows and educational packages, developed large scale site-specific residencies and formed an international element to the company, creating work in India and Portugal. This culminated in the creation of Teatro Montemuru a sister company setup to tour theatre into rural communities in Portugal. After leaving Pentabus, he founded The Fetch Theatre. Alongside, he has continued to work as a Theatre Designer and has designed for many professional companies, including the Birmingham REP, Foursight, Black Country Touring, The Watermill, Chol Theatre and About Face.

‘Thanks to theatre, Purvin has “had the opportunity to work in the wild mountains of Portugal, the flat plains of the Punjab and run workshops in the pine forests of Galilee.”  

Seven Tears of the Selkie is the Fetch Theatre’s new family friendly show, touring from September 2026. It feature’s The Fetch’s unique style of visual, non-word based theatre with original music, beautiful puppetry and a magical story. It takes its inspiration from the many tales of Selkies passed down in folklore. 

Funny, poignant, moving and beautiful, the story transports audiences as they engage with the puppets and take an emotional journey with them. The show is performed by one puppeteer who skilfully animates various spectacular puppets and props in order to create a simple but unforgettable story. 

Fetch Theatre have a collection of giant puppets for walkabouts, with workshops for inspirational community engagement: The Kingfisher, Heron, Dragonfly, Shark, Lugg Maiden and Lion can all be paraded and also lit up for events after dark. Visit our website for further details.