A construction worker is drawn into a production of Romeo and Juliet
Directed by Kelly O'Sullivan, Alex Thompson. Starring Keith Kupferer, Katherine Mallen Kupferer, Tara Mallen, Dolly de Leon, Hanna Dworkin, Dexter Zollicoffer, H.B. Ward, Alma Washington.is inherently tragic. Yet as she steps behind the camera with Alex Thompson, director of South by Southwest 2019 selection, she lets the underlying tragedy weep through the surface.
But there is also healing, found in Dan's surprise secret life. By accident, this road construction worker, a self-described old school kind of guy who doesn’t do “big feelings,” finds himself cast as Lord Capulet in an amateur theatrical production. If you asked Dan why he was doing this, why he was pushing himself through the greatest drama about teenage suicide ever when his baby boy is buried in the cold, dark soil, there's no way he'd be able to give you anything like an answer.
But that's what makes this ruptured family drama so touching, so cathartic, and ultimately so healing. The ingenious decision to cast the real-life Kupferer Mallen family as the onscreen family gives an astonishing immediacy and intimacy that breaks apart what could have been a tropey, schmaltzy comedy in lesser hands. Instead, it feels combustible and warm in the way family does, especially with an exceptionally volcanic performance from Katherine as Daisy.
O’Sullivan’s script is also a remarkable document of community theatre: again, often a place for cheap laughs about hams and backstage romances, but it’s never played for comedy at the character’s expense. There’s a pivotal scene in which director Lanora serves as a fill-in intimacy coordinator, working Rita and Dan through a kissing scene. It could be absurd, but instead it’s tender, an insight into who they both are and what they’re going through.
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