Washington Post - Somewhat Recommended
"...Director Aaron Posner, whose fine Folger work has included a wry “Measure for Measure,” commedia-inflected “The Comedy of Errors” and sorcery-filled “Macbeth,” here takes on the saddest love story ever told and fiddles with it in ways that make it recognizably his. He’s been known to push his concepts too far at times: Witness his shtick-driven “The Taming of the Shrew” last year. On this occasion, the tinkering burns off some of the tragedy’s heat: Though Weaver’s Juliet has stature and Goldsmith’s Romeo a convincing earnestness, the bred-in-the-bone hatred between the Capulets and Montagues never materializes powerfully, and so the dangers facing the couple aren’t as apparent as they need to be, either."
DC Theater Arts - Highly Recommended
"...Shakespeare’s iconic star-crossed lovers certainly need no introduction… but Folger Theatre’s energetic interpretation of Romeo and Juliet may indeed herald some much-deserved praise."
MetroWeekly - Recommended
"...There is, however, nothing drab in the acting on display -- to say nothing of Shakespeare's patently great way with words and wordplay. Both Michael Goldsmith as a hyper-charged Romeo and Erin Weaver as a determined Juliet win you over as the tragedy's star-crossed lovers, while Signature Theatre star Sherri L. Edelen steals the show as the sweet, sassy, say-it-like-it-is Nurse. Brian Dykstra as mean dad Lord Capulet, Eric Hissom as sincere Friar Lawrence and the great comedic sensibilities of both Aaron Bliden (Benvolio) and Matthew McGee (Friar John plus two servant roles) all provide flickers of excitement."
Talkin Broadway - Recommended
"...Shakespeare's original version or through one of the countless adaptations and knockoffs that have followed through the centuries. However, director Aaron Posner has chosen a new tack for his production at the Folger Theatre in Washington, stressing the parallels between Renaissance Verona and contemporary America. He has succeeded in crafting an immediate, intense production with a surprising amount of humor."
Washington City Paper - Somewhat Recommended
"...Overwhelmingly, though, Weaver's Juliet comes off as too mature and sensible not at least to consider talking to Paris, the kindhearted, well-born suitor preferred by her father. Or indeed, to drink some death-emulating potion just because that stoner Friar Laurence says it's safe and effective. She wears modern clothes, a military jacket and a stocking cap, while everyone else is in Elizabethan-era costume. It feels like a shaky stab at differentiation, like when a freshman wears a fedora to school. That, at least, captures some of the risk and impetuousness of youth. Kids those days..."
Washingtonian - Recommended
"...The production’s most powerful scene occurs when Juliet tells her father she won’t marry Paris, prompting him to fly off the handle and attack his daughter, her nurse (Sherri Edelen, who plays the role in an understated way that’s very effective), and, most viciously of all, his wife (Shannon Koob). Dysktra is terrifying, and the women are rightly hysterical—it’s a raw scene that adds a lot to the text without coming across as forced. In contrast, a wordless scene in which Posner shows Romeo’s mother (Michele Osherow) tipping pills into her wine before joining a group of ghosts above the stage feels unnecessary."
MD Theatre Guide - Highly Recommended
"...With Romeo & Juliet Folger Theatre continues its stylistic “story first” approach to Shakespeare, and it continues to present Washington with enthralling theatrical fare, not built on elaborate spectacle but on that far more precious quality: authentic human behavior."
DCTheatreScene - Highly Recommended
I call it Aaron Posner’s Romeo and Juliet because his editing and staging choices uncover a play I’ve never seen before inside a play that I know well: the story of the generation left behind to tell the story of the furious young woman and the wild young man who refused to be thwarted by their elders.