In an iconoclastic masterpiece reminiscent of Sartre’s “No Exit”, author Tess Smith rips the veil of complacency from the eyes of her 21st century audience. Using Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet as her trellis she has arranged a bouquet of literary and political figures that offends and enlightens. We are compelled to watch as her two protagonists, Romeo and Julius, eviscerate each other with love and compassion. The two are determined to marry despite the ominous warnings of Julius’s father, ‘The Donald’.

Who will be their savior? Why Elvis of course in Smith’s weltanschauung, Elvis has indeed NOT left the building, and is entirely capable of preventing the young lovers from destroying their eternal souls, if he chooses to intervene!

No ideology is sacred! The vapidity of pop culture is juxtaposed with the intellectual ejaculations of Allen Ginsberg! The abortion debate is utterly muted forever with Smith’s heart wrenching spoken aria as the Paris character explains the great evil which at once surrounds her and metastases within her. This profound and bitingly clever play forces us to ask “for whom the bell tolls?” And like it or not we all ultimately have to admit, that it does indeed, toll for us!

-- Sandy Elias
Actor, Southwest Shakespeare Company

For more information, please email Tess Smith: Tess@TessS.com Copyright © 2010