A festival of fresh theatre for adventurous people by inspiring artists is headed for the South West this November as producers Fuel present a festival of performances in partnership with venues across the city of Exeter. FuelFest Exeter ranges from family-friendly nights out, to intimate experiences in the dark, and performances in community centres. There’ll be puppetry, sea shanties, binaural soundscapes and conversations with the future.

Programmed so that audiences can potentially see every show in the festival over its duration, FuelFest Exeter also offers its own signature cocktail, courtesy of the Bikeshed bar. Performances include Inua Ellams’ critically acclaimed An Evening with an Immigrant (11 Nov).Born to a Muslim father and Christian mother in the area of Nigeria now associated with Boko Haram, writer and performer Ellams takes audiences on an epic autobiographical journey littered with poetry and anecdotes.

Also on the festival bill is director David Rosenberg and writer Glen Neath’s Fiction (7-10 Nov), an immersive show that makes use of sensory stimuli – binaural sound techniques, headphones and darkness – to put the audience member at the centre of their own unfolding narrative in an alternate reality.

On 7 and 8 November, puppetry pioneers Gyre and Gimble will present The Hartlepool Monkey, a new show suitable for families which tells the timely tale of a monkey mistaken for a French spy during the Napoleonic Wars, through sea shanties and puppetry from the original puppeteers on War Horse. Uninvited Guests will visit the city as part of a quest to create a digital record of our time, To Those Born Later (7 & 8 November), resulting in a time capsule that will be opened in 150 years. Completing the festival programme, Racheal Ofori presents Portrait (9 & 10 Nov) a frank, fun and provocative look at the trials and tribulations of modern life as seen through the eyes of a young black woman.

Fuel’s Director Kate McGrath said, “This is our most ambitious FuelFest yet as we present shows in venues and spaces all around Exeter.  The programme is a brilliant taste of the breadth and depth of Fuel’s work over the last few years.  I’m particularly excited to be presenting a special preview of a brand new show – Uninvited Guests’ To Those Born Later – in Exeter Central Library as part of our ongoing ambition to present shows in unexpected places.  The whole Fuel team are decamping to Exeter and looking forward to sharing a drink and a chat with audiences after the shows.’

Fuel produces an adventurous, playful and significant programme of work - live, digital, and across art forms – for a large and representative audience across the UK and beyond. We collaborate with outstanding artists with fresh perspectives and approaches who seek to explore our place in the world, expose our fears, understand our hopes for the future, create experiences which change us and in turn empower us to make change in the world around us. Fuel was founded in 2004 and is led by Kate McGrath. From a base at Somerset House, London, Fuel works locally, nationally and internationally to develop, create and distribute new work to the widest possible audience. Fuel is a National Portfolio Organisation of Arts Council England, and a registered charity.

Full details: www.fueltheatre.com