“… Much of the success here is thanks to the Irish Chamber Orchestra, who play with raucous conviction under André de Ridder’s agile, pin-sharp conducting. They create a canvas of chaotic eccentricity in which the seven-strong cast of singers have no other option than to go with the often, frantic flow. Claudia Boyle’s engagingly feisty Alice rises to Barry’s amphetamine-driven, hyperventilated coloratura challenges with athletic aplomb. A performance of striking dexterity, her adroitly graduated vocal gymnastics provide a solid centre – no mean achievement – to the permanently excitable whirlwind of proceedings. There is strong support in multiple-cast roles from Stephen King’s mischievous Cheshire Cat, Gavin Ring’s discombobulated White Rabbit, finely unhinged Mad Hatter and Tweedledum to the Tweedledee of Peter Tantsits, who doubles as a delightfully officious Mad Hare.Hilary Summers, Clare Presland, Stephen Richardson and Alan Ewing provide equally vivid contributions of their own, all at one with Barry’s gleefully provocative penchant for plundering the popular and the profound…. As his earlier treatment of Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest suggested, Barry is his own best librettist. The dual role liberates him as a composer to go above and beyond what others might consider achievable let alone sensible. The result simultaneously assaults and ravishes the ears.” ****