Niall Henry, Blue Raincoat Theatre
"Until Barabbas started you'd have to have a Polish name before you could do physical theatre in Ireland. Theatre here is very young, very traditional: and the only way the traditional changes is when Irish companies move into other theatrical traditions. Barabbas is one of the companies which began to open that up . . . There had been companies which tried to make different stylistic choices before, and it just didn't pan out. Barabbas's biggest success is not just to have chosen to operate in a different area of theatre, but to have made it work."
Stephen Bradley, Temple Films
"Working with Barabbas, you're immediately struck by the number of ideas they produce, and by how well they know each other - each of them seems to know what the other is thinking.
"We made a clown soap opera for what was then TnaG, one film a day for two years, and it was no problem for them to make the transition from theatre to television. Mikel and Raymond also played two comic sidekicks in the film, Sweety Barrett, and were equally at ease in film work.
"And, physically, they're up for anything. . ."
Jim Nolan, ex-director, Red Kettle
"Barabbas is in the vanguard of a movement which has, over the last decade, sought to liberate Irish theatre from its dependence on words and text as the primary means of communication. Their productions have been richly distinguished by an exuberant comedic physicality and they have created theatre which nourishes the eye of its audience as much as its ear. What I particularly admir e is their promotion of an acting style where the actor's body is given the same primacy as the voice, where movement and gesture communicate as eloquently as words."
Martin Drury, ex-director, The Ark
"When I think of Barabbas, the first word that jumps into my mind is 'fun' - in the most serious sense. The title of the piece they made for children, Out the Back Door, epitomises the way in which they approach the tradition of theatre: instead of entering respectfully through the front door, they come at it sideways, or from underneath. In my mind's eye, they always seem to be coming up out of baths or down through trapdoors or in out of chimneys. In performance it's the closest thing I've seen to children playing - that immediacy, that attack, that primary experiencing of everything through the body - and yet it's not trivial or self-indulgent or superficial."