Love Stories

A Valentine’s Day you’ll never forget 🎭❤️

Kandu Arts is bringing a show to Chippenham that promises a whirlwind romance of stories, chat and laughs about love. Love Stories, by Mark Rutterford, promises a Valentine’s Day event like no other and one you’ll never forget. As the audience eats Love Heart sweets, they will hear tales of love affairs and heartache but like any romantic encounter, Love Stories is not a passive experience.

Audience engagement is a big part of the show. It’s the audience that decides who wins the World Cup of Love Songs, what happens in one story and, having heard Mark’s best and worst romantic moments, they’ll be invited to share their own triumphs and disasters. Laughs and empathy are guaranteed.

This interactive theatre piece is that latest offering from Kandu Arts, a Chippenham based company that has been using the arts and activities to explore a wide range of issues and nurture strong relationships within the community for 25 years.

An alien reports that he just ‘doesn’t get it,’ but the 4-Star Review from last year’s Bath Fringe Festival says that you will feel the connection and that you might be beguiled into leaving your cynic at the door.

“the connection…is what makes the night – during our short time together we become friends hanging out”

Background

Mark Rutterford is a writer-performer that has been performing stories across the South West for a decade. Love Stories is Mark’s first solo show – it made its debut at Bath Fringe Festival in May 2023 (4-Stars) and went on to Shaftesbury Fringe in July and Camden Fringe in August last year. The mix of performance, props, emotions and audience engagement are key features in the inclusive, funny and entertaining show Mark wanted to create. He is delighted to be working with Kandu Arts and to be performing in Chippenham for the first time – he hopes to do more of both in future.

Kandu Arts for sustainable development is based in Chippenham, Wiltshire, and has worked since 1998 with communities, often the most marginalized and hardest to reach up and down the country. They use music, film, visual arts & sport as a means to explore a wide range of issues. Combined with nurturing strong relationships, this approach is highly effective in areas of engaging the disaffected, increasing community cohesion and development.