"Suddenly, the sexual power games in David Ives's Venus in Fur seem distant, almost artificial...the plot is intriguing, the dialogue is consistently surprising, and the performances are exceptional, making a convincing argument that sex is exactly like every other kind of human interaction. Except maybe funnier."

Anita Gates, The New York Times

"As others before her, Davies repurposes discomfort, making Smoke a cynical, magnetic miniature about consent itself... We're seduced and titillated by the actor's incredible technical control: It's just so delicious to let them have the upper hand."

Helen Shaw, Time Out New York

"Its naturalistic elegance and simplicity, its admirable exclusion of oratory that tries to inject sexual fetishes with spiritual significance, its focus on the immediate realities of the characters, its overall sophistication concerning human interactions in the context of their sexual adventures, and its tightness make this a superior and, in its way, flawless work."

Dmitry Zvonkov, Stage and Cinema

"This is why Smoke is such an important play: it does for BDSM culture what The Boys in the Band did for gay male culture. It is an honest, unflinching window into marginalized, underrepresented community."

Rachel Kerry, New York Theatre Review