Sell/Buy/Date NYC Reviews and Tickets
Show-Score Member Reviews (140)
See it if you want to see the amazing Sarah Jones. She is a national treasure. The most amazing actress.
Don't see it if must see
See it if You care about women's issues, humanity & our rights as citizens of this world. A socially & politically current play that resonates deep.
Don't see it if You are a red state lunatic that has fear in your heart. This play is raw, real and too complex emotionally for your intellect level. Read more
See it if Sarah Jones is a genius! This play, her acting, the staging....are all top notch. And the subject matter is brave and relevant.
Don't see it if You don't like one person shows.
See it if Totally absorbing!
Don't see it if Hate edginess!
See it if you can at least tolerate one person shows. Masterful. Like a pool pro running the table. Show is moving soon. Just go.
Don't see it if you prefer a traditional cast and dialogue experience. Perhaps five minutes too long. One predictable punch line.
See it if you like high quality performance with an ultimate humane touch. I was blown away. Raised the bar for all solo plays.
Don't see it if topic about sex industry bothers you
See it if You are interested in issues like sexism. You enjoy seeing a fine performer assume various identities--changing gender, age, and race.
Don't see it if You only like shows with plots.
See it if you want to see a thoughtful, well acted show with a riveting performance by Sarah Jones.
Don't see it if you don't want to see an intelligent, thought provoking one woman show.
Critic Reviews (20)
"Jones seems to slip into the soul of another person with the casual ease that most of us use to slide into a pair of flip-flops...Although the play’s subject matter is ostensibly dark, there is a lot of unexpected humor...Indeed, if 'Sell/Buy/Date' has a flaw, it is perhaps that the show is almost too entertaining, too slight, for the harsh subject underlying it...I do wish that she had delved a little deeper, and allowed the darkness of the details to come through with more grit."
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"Anyone who saw the performer's equally jaw-dropping 2006 turn, 'Bridge & Tunnel,' will know her ability to vocally and physically transform...Here, she does not disappoint, blending virtuosic mimicry with a sly feminist message that if erotic power relations do not evolve, it could be the death of us. Directed with maximum style and clarity by Carolyn Cantor, 'Sell/Buy/Date' shows the protean Jones staging a one-woman orgy of provocative ideas."
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"It’s a rococo frame, to be sure, and a bit rickety as well. Some of the writing in these sections comes off as bald reportage...At other times, she goes for jokey commentary...The characters are constantly being hammered into an argument rather than being allowed their full independent interest...But if there is some opportunism in the setup, Jones eventually makes it pay off...When the jokes and the argument merge into something much less easily classified."
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"Writer-performer Sarah Jones is a human chameleon. In her new solo piece she summons a melting pot of characters in the blink of an eye, along with a shift in voice, posture and attitude. Jones is so spellbinding that you you almost — but not quite — don’t notice that the futuristic story about the commercial sex trade — buyers and sellers — adds up to less than the sum of her vivid characters. Carolyn Cantor’s sleek direction is a plus, a weak subplot isn’t."
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"Even as the show expands, darkening the content and making the subjects more pitiable, Jones never entirely loses that cutting humor...Each character that Jones inhabits gives her a hook on which to hang some damning fact about contemporary sexual mores...If the show does get a bit preachy at the end, it helps to remember that Jones is a political activist...The theater community has previously awarded her with a Tony, and now, as always, our sincere admiration and undivided attention."
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"Jones delivers characters who are vividly rendered and wittily written, making many insightful points about the complex subject matter in the process. And she displays an amazing ability to morph from one to the next...Still, despite all of Jones' linguistic and performing aplomb, the elaborate narrative structure proves needlessly distracting...There are so many powerful and real stories on display in 'Sell/Buy/Date'...that the fictional construct seems superfluous."
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"Her performances go beyond convincing mimicry to get at something every genuine theater artist strives to achieve: profound empathy...Director Carolyn Cantor has smartly opted for simplicity, allowing the production to speed along at a breezy 85 minutes while Jones does what she does best...Beyond policy considerations, Sarah Jones is making a special kind of theatrical magic in 'Sell/Buy/Date' by taking a difficult issue and putting multiple human faces on it."
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"Though solo performer Sarah Jones is rightfully celebrated for her exacting skills that quickly morph herself into a seemingly limitless collection of characters of diverse ages, ethnicities, nationalities and personalities, she doesn't seem to get proper credit as a playwright...'Sell/Buy/Date' has a thin plot that connects ninety minutes worth of vividly realized character monologues. While each can stand on its own, they gather strength together as an exploration of the play's subject."
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