Shakespeare in LA

Shakespeare’s timeless tale of star-crossed lovers retold as a contemporary trailer park rock opera.

“Every generation reinvents Romeo and Juliet in a way that strikes a chord with its sensibilities, experiences and outlook. This is Romeo and Juliet for the Youtube generation, a film that plays off the wide-ranging tastes of people accustomed to taking the glamorous with the grimy, the comic with the tragic, the beautiful with the freakish, and the venal with the elevated.

Setting Shakespeare to the catchy pop riffs of a rock opera, Romeo and Juliet: A Love Song brims with contrast and juxtaposition. The everlasting story unfolds afresh through a driving, sometimes high camp musical score set against the swapper crates and spliff culture of trailer park boys; the sublime cinematography against the dilapidated caravans and outré interiors; the deep, booming male voice of the Friar embodied in a mystical, diminutive vagrant.

Every country has a trailer park culture – part holiday, part residential, part the last resort. While dotted with the familiar paraphernalia of a NZ camping holiday, it’s also a world of its own where strange scenes can be observed – from the Prince and his family line dancing in front of his caravan, to Romeo’s emotion-explosions, to the Friar stealing cactuses and cooking them.”

— Director Tim Van Dammen

For more about the film visit www.romeoandjulietalovesong.com.