Romeo & Juliet Reviews
Washington Post- Recommended
"...The clock ticks toward tragedy once the couple weds, propelled by a score from Konstantine Lortkipanidze. His music mixes Radiohead-esque rock with Arvo Pärt-inspired classical minimalism. There’s no Prince to announce “all are punished” when Romeo and Juliet are found dead in the Capulet crypt. Instead, a percussive heartbeat goes silent like a vital signs machine fading out. Fans have to hope that Synetic Theater, unlike the doomed lovers, will rise again someday soon."
DC Theater Arts- Highly Recommended
"...What is Shakespeare without the Bard’s words? Director Paata Tsikurishvili’s Romeo & Juliet at Synetic Theater dares to imagine a Shakespearean tragedy without witty wisecracks or romantic lamentation. The dance-based performance tells the familiar tale with no dialogue, expressing the action and drama of the story through mesmerizing movement, deliberate lighting and sound design, and powerful performances from a cast that knows how to convey emotion without a single word."
Washington City Paper- Recommended
"...Less than a week after Faction of Fools closed their production Romeo and Juliet, Synetic Theater opened their run of the same story. While this play is such a common element of popular culture that a plot summary is unnecessary, local audiences are fortunate that they can experience two theater companies with such distinct artistic visions providing such radically different approaches to the same source material nearly back to back. Whereas the Fools’ production was guided by the dictum “Romeo and Juliet is a comedy, except when it isn’t,” Synetic’s approach in their wordless adaptation is to rely on their prowess in physical and visual theater."
MD Theatre Guide- Highly Recommended
"...The message on which the director focuses is clear and sadly timely—the Capulets and Montagues hate each other for no clear reason other than they have always done so. As Paata states in the program note: “…generational hate and misunderstanding, all of it self-perpetuating and ultimately self-defeating —this is the real tragedy of ‘Romeo and Juliet.’”"
BroadwayWorld- Highly Recommended
"...Director Paata Tsikurishvili and Sound Engineer Brandon Cook most especially deserve praise. The timing, synchronization, and action is crisp and precise and nothing is left to improvisation."