Jessica Krieg - Writing samples

Burlesque Baby is a show run by Courtney L’amour that allows first-timers to get some stage time in front of a welcoming audience, while also giving established performers a chance to test out new routines. There is an in house team who give feedback for each routine, which helps the performers to tweak and refine their act to perfection. As I found my seat, I noticed a screen beside the stage displaying performers' names and their picture – this is a great idea for introducing the audience to any unfamiliar names and faces. MC Constance Cravings in her Ringmaster (or mistress) outfit kicked the night off well with sleek satin and glittering jewels a-plenty. Her rendition of “Welcome To Burlesque” was comical and a great intro to burlesque etiquette for new-comers. Her intro for each performer was witty and quick, which was quite refreshing having been to many a show where the host tends to babble. After the break, Constance further flexed her fashion flair with a gold number ...

Two sex scenes, a butt load of glitter, one little play. "Skeletons" is about a broken couple clinging onto the pieces of their relationship as they try to piece together where it all fell apart. We meet the unnamed man and woman at the end of their battle. Piece by piece, bone by bone, they tell their love story backwards. Everywhere ‘Guy’ looks there are reminders of the failures; his two friends help him pick up her belongings while he tries to pick up his life. Being in a relationship, one can never tell when the strings start to get tangled into what eventually becomes an irreconcilable ‘hot mess.’ Being able to sit back and watch, objectively, as the whole thing is unravelled, allows us to pick apart the individual threads. The little incidents which, alone, are not so bad (a fart in bed, not being productive with one's day, one too many mentions of the new guy at work) add up to something entirely unpleasant. The story takes place in many different locations ...

From the rubble of the February's Christchurch earthquake rises this documentary-style offering from Bare Hunt Collective. Pieced together from interviews with people affected by the quake, this show presents us with a new look at the stories of the survivors. Admittedly, this is something we’ve seen a lot of from the media in the past year, the supposed “intimate one-on-one.”  Munted  however really does go a level deeper. From a three lady ensemble, we are given a bevvy of characters like; four-year-old Alex, a store owning family, a long-distance couple and even the media. The cast does an excellent job of differentiating between characters, giving each of their characters their own voice, posture and distinct personalities. Simple lighting draws our attention from actor to actor to the character/s currently in focus. The set is a jumble of chairs and teacups set up to show each separate ‘setting’ for the various characters. They make use of sharing the set with...

I will admit I am a sucker for musicals so this review may be slightly biased. Based on a true story of the notorious Lonely Heart Killers and inspired by the film of the same name, Lonely Heart is a musical full of dark humour one might compare to Sweeney Todd (minus the messy bloodshed). Martha has lucked out in life, her story so far is one of heartbreak and it doesn’t look to be changing anytime soon. That is until a friend sends her on a blind date with murderous results. I did wonder at first whether, with a cast of only five, the actors voices would be drowned out by the music from one-man-band Michael Nicholas Williams. I needn’t have worried, Bryony Skillington (Martha) and her fellow cast members definitely aren’t ones to be drowned out. The cast flow well from dialogue to the songs, which all have an individual feel yet there is repetition which links the story together from start to finish. I should also give praise to all for maintaining the various American accents t...

A show with a very serious message, yet which is heartwarming and humorous. This show, set ten years on from the incident, revisits the story of Matthew Shepherd, a young man whose life was tragically ended, though there is debate as to whether his death was a hate crime or merely a robbery gone wrong. Through a collection of verbatim interview segments, the cast explore all sides of the story, past and present. It battles with homophobia, prejudice society and the idea of perpetuating a person’s memory beyond their final day. In 10 years time, will anyone remember our legacy? TLP is performed by a cast of eight yet has no less than 43 characters. The first couple of minutes are slightly confusing as the cast dart about the stage changing rapidly from character to character establishing the base of the story but pace slows down as the show progresses making it much easier to follow. There is no defined set, merely chairs and tables which are moved from place to place and simple li...