Anne-Louise Fortune

Edinburgh, Manchester

Culture Correspondent at Brig Newspaper

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Articles

Mother's Day - a reflection

4 weeks ago | brignews.com | Anne-Louise Fortune

My mum died in December 2023, after a brief period of living with a terminal cancer diagnosis. Mother’s Day was a fixed point in time in our relationship, along with so many other points on the calendar. One of a series of moments during the year that marked the passage of the seasons, and moments when we’d stop and take stock. “We understand this can be a difficult time of year.
Jaffa Cakes and Woggles return!

2 months ago | brignews.com | Anne-Louise Fortune

Regular readers of Brig will recall that we greatly enjoyed A Jaffa Cake Musical when it appeared at the 2024 Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Good news for all law students, trainee accountants, and anyone with a passing interest in baking, is that the show will be returning to this year’s Fringe. Details of venue and show times will be confirmed nearer to the Fringe, which takes place across Edinburgh in August each year.
Review: Sanctuary ★★★☆☆

Nov 27, 2024 | brignews.com | Anne-Louise Fortune

Sanctuary is a one-act play set in a very near future dystopia. Specifically, the play is set in February 2025, in Portland, Oregon. Regarded as a bastion of American liberalism, and itself a Sanctuary City, it is perhaps surprising that the background to this piece of theatre is based on true events from 2020 which took place there. On that occasion, a Black Lives Matter protest was counter-protested. Matters escalated, and downtown Portland became a battleground.
Review: The State of Grace ★★★★☆

Oct 22, 2024 | brignews.com | Anne-Louise Fortune

The State of Grace is a piece of biographical theatre, much of it constructed from the words of the subject herself: Grace Bellavue. Grace was a high-class sex-worker, based in Adelaide in South Australia. She talked about her work extensively on social media, and was an advocate for sex workers in their efforts to overturn often punitive legislation, and to shift the public perception of the sex work industry. Grace was also a prolific writer, and even wrote lyrics for hip-hop tracks.
Review: Chopped Liver and Unions ★★★★☆

Oct 12, 2024 | brignews.com | Anne-Louise Fortune

Chopped Liver and Unions is the latest production from Blue Fire Theatre, who specialise in telling stories of women from history who have generally been either forgotten, or overlooked within popular culture. This piece concerns Sara Wesker, played by Lottie Walker, who was instrumental in the fight for equal pay for women. She also led the fight to challenge the slum conditions and overcrowding of east London, where she lived for the majority of her life.
Edinburgh Fringe: I Wish You Well - The Gwyneth Paltrow Ski Trial Musical ★★★☆☆

Sep 15, 2024 | brignews.com | Anne-Louise Fortune

I Wish You Well – The Gwyneth Paltrow Ski Trial Musical, is the second of two musicals at this year’s Fringe, both of which set to music the extraordinary story of the 2023 Utah court hearing that ended in victory for Paltrow. This version, from producer Paul Taylor-Mills, is glitzy and glamorous, and exactly what you’d expect from the man who brought you the musical version of But I’m a Cheerleader, and the super-hero story Eugenius.
Edinburgh Fringe: Gwyneth Goes Skiing ★★★★☆

Sep 8, 2024 | brignews.com | Anne-Louise Fortune

Gwyneth Goes Skiing, from Awkward Productions, is one of two musicals at the 2024 Edinburgh Fringe, which seeks to make theatrical entertainment out of the real life 2023 Utah court hearing concerning the actress Gwyneth Paltrow. In development for the last few years, and with a pre-established performance history, Awkward Productions, led by Linus Karp, are continuing to develop Karp’s work engaging with popular culture icons.
Edinburgh Fringe: Locomotive for Murder ★★★★☆

Sep 2, 2024 | brignews.com | Anne-Louise Fortune

Locomotive For Murder is a fun theatrical romp through the tropes of the golden age of detective fiction. With moderate audience participation, no two shows are ever the same, although the overall format is what places every performance on the same overall world.
Edinburgh Fringe: Holly Stars - Justice for Holly ★★★☆☆

Sep 1, 2024 | brignews.com | Anne-Louise Fortune

Stand up is hard. Character stand up is harder still. Drag character stand up is an additional layer of difficulty on top of this. Holly Stars (Death Drop) is therefore to be commended for having the bravery to bring this show to the Fringe. Holly Stars: Justice for Holly, is an hour long narrative character comedy performance piece, telling the story of Holly’s recent past. Holly has been detained in a back room at Superdrug for attempting to shoplift lipsticks. How did she get here?
Edinburgh Fringe: Of The Land On Which We Meet ★★★★☆

Aug 26, 2024 | brignews.com | Anne-Louise Fortune

Of The Land On Which We Meet is a contemporary circus show. The title comes from the Acknowledgement of Country which now forms a usual part of many public occasions across Australia. The Acknowledgement is supposed to be a statement to remind those gathered that the Aboriginal Peoples were in Australia some 60,000 years before the settler colonialists arrived from Britain.