“the most captivating Irish performance events (Performance Corporation)”
- Irish Times

The Performance Corporation has displayed a gift for sharp social comedy delivered with an energy to which the word ‘boundless’ could scarcely do justice
ruthlessly physical theatre…wonderfully realised …original, visually striking”
- Irish Theatre Magazine

“consistently growing…one of Ireland's leading companies”
- WOW

“At their best, the Performance Corporation are maniacally and subversively brilliant.”
- The Sunday Independent

“a theatre that celebrates initiatives to stage shows in unique and different ways, in unexpected places and to provide entertainment without sacrificing intellectual and artistic credibility… Since its inception two years ago, The Performance Corporation has served up tantalising presentations that have been new, different, refreshing and a lot of fun”
- The Examiner

“…one of the most exciting companies in Ireland today
The Performance Corporation are known for their signature quirky style.
The company pride themselves on engaging with each aspect of the theatre in their productions to explore all aspects of the theatre experience to the full”
- The Kilkenny People

“The Performance Corporation is a company that consistently produces stylistically unified and coherent performances and imaginative clever work”
- Irish Theatre Magazine

“staged in …the most impressive bunker on earth….fiercely humorous…another restlessly physical and archly entertaining show from director Jo Mangan,
…an ensemble well versed in ironic delivery, comic timing and imperturbable stunt work.”
– The Irish Times

‘ingeniously simple set…playwright Tom Swift’s engaging stlye…fierce energy and snappy storytelling…compulsively watchable…Jo Mangan’s adroit direction…the stunning location; the colour, brio and imitable je ne sais quoi of The Performance Corporation’s distinctive story-telling style; and the energy of the cast…create something unique and wonderful”.
- Irish Theatre Magazine

"Stunning.
A triumphantly exciting and innovative piece of theatre. With brilliant light and sound, cheetah-like energy from the players and a passion of regret for road carnage, it offers no explanations or excuses, merely a sobering documentation. And it does it superbly, with talented creativity and theatrical discipline stamped on every second of time and
every scream of wheels."
- The Sunday Independent

“The find of the festival…brilliantly written, innovative, topical…a masterpiece of choreography…”
– The Irish Independent

 “The simple, moving final moments bring home the tragic consequences of joyriding gone wrong….cleverly conceived exercise in drive-in theatre … a quite amazing feat of directing”
- The Guardian

“Impressively lit expansive exteriors and scrupulously evinced psychological interiors….graceful slow-motion sequences - a vehicular ballet”
- The Irish Times

“Stylish production… sharp meditation on speed, power and the death drive…powerful words…exhilarating show”
- Herald AM

“It’s a true feast for the senses, with the three excellent performers dancing and swaggering around on the tarmac, speeding around the building in three souped-up hatchbacks. But best of all is the coloured lighting in each of the windows of the mock-Georgian building, which flash on and off like disco lights at appropriate moments.”
- Fringe Report

“The most exciting and innovative thirty minute spectacle I have witnessed in a long time”
- Irish Theatre Magazine

“The big theatrical event this year...The Performance Corporation’s The Yokohama Delegation has it all: mythology, music, dancing, satire, myriad costume changes and a killer script...the liveliest 80 minutes of theatre on stage anywhere”
- The Examiner

“excellent…fun, lighthearted…fast-paced, energetic…numerous comic turns…a glossy coherent style, that might be described as retro futurism meets James Bond on Mount Olympus”
- Irish Theatre Magazine

“it’s vitality and sheer quirkiness reaffirms one’s faith in the necessity of theatre and the importance of innovation”
- The Kilkenny People

“…the Performance Corporation are maniacally and subversively brilliant.”
- The Sunday Independent

“The Performance Corporation is a company that consistently produces stylistically unified and coherent performances and imaginative clever work”
- Theatre Magazine

“…they all perform to director Jo Mangan's usual standard, fully embodying their characters, using their voices creatively, and fully committing to Tom Swift's perfectly pitched text.
…Swift's hand is sure, capturing tone and texture and time flawlessly
…brilliantly creepy

…the company's attention to detail shines, and its cleverness, in the best sense of the word, presents itself with authority.
…Wonderfully theatrical…another strong outing by this consistently growing company.”
- WOW

“Two short years ago the Performance Corporation made its début with Voltaire's Candide, an electrifying production that thrummed with talent, invention and playfulness and set the bar impossibly high. The fiercely entertaining Dr Ledbetter's Experiment raises it again.
…typically superb …perfectly engrossing and designed to disorientate
…fiendishly dial-hopping sound design…witty touches of Swift's script…”
- The Irish Times

“The major highlight of the festival..
Since its inception two years ago, The Performance Corporation has served up tantalising presentations that have been new, different, refreshing and a lot of fun, They’ve come up with the goods again with the hugely entertaining Dr Ledbetter’s Experiment.
…brilliant cast on display…experts all of them in the playing of the absurd and the surreal in high comic fashion.
The Performance Corporation have done it again. Great Stuff.”
- The Examiner

“Dr Ledbetter's Experiment is wildly Gothic, and the humour is high…truly terrifying…Mangan's direction is splendid, and Swift's writing has a perfect period pitch
…Rory Nolan a glowingly insane Ledbetter, backed with spirited precision by Fergal McElherron, Damien Devaney, Aoife Molony and Niamh Daly in a variety of roles from full to cameo.”
- The Sunday Independent

“exhilarated, charmed, challenged –
and jumping for joy…first-rate acting…hilarious…excellent…
clever, informed, utterly contemporary use of music …
boasted an atmospheric original score by Rob Canning and a soundscape by Paul Brennan”
-The Irish Times

“Go see Dr. Ledbetter’s Experiment, make sure not to miss it.
…innovative, quirky, funny, gothic and down right scary at times.
…the play is excellent and entertaining…the story itself is great…the acting is great…all actors brought a whacky comedic style to their performances…
The wearing of headphones adds to the whole experience, it’s fun and incredibly effective…funny and fun, experimental and a great theatrical experience. Go and see it, you won’t have seen anything of its like before, but hopefully we will see much more of it in the future.”
“…one of the most exciting companies in Ireland today.”
- The Kilkenny People

“The city was also central to The Performance Corporation's show Dr Ledbetter's Experiment, about a Victorian clergyman-scientist unhinged by reading too much Darwin. The audience met at a Tudor townhouse. We were given headphones, playing a soundtrack, then two Victorian figures burst in, all mutton-chops and corsets, and we were thrust into the drama, becoming, variously, the audience at a public execution, a congregation singing All Things Bright and Beautiful, schoolchildren being herded across the street and, finally, the victims of a gruesome scientific experiment, shivering in the darkness as a dungeon door clanged shut.”
- The Guardian

“fun, a whole lotta fun… helplessly giggling… It has been years since I snorted in public… perfectly tuned band of five who slipped from role to role with ease… The costumes and sets were excellent… It's like pantomime for adults, only much, much better… Dr Ledbetter's Experiment is for fun’ huge smiling, spine-chilling, snort-inducing fun.”
- Arts Ireland

Critical response to Dr. Ledbetter’s Experiment at Edinburgh 2006

****  The List  **** Metro    **** The Herald on Sunday
                                                “Pick of the Week”

                  ***** Skinny Fest    **** The Herald
                                       “Pick of the day”

“A fabulously mysterious promenade. The show marks the County Kildare-based company’s Edinburgh Fringe debut. You can be sure we’ll be seeing them again”’.
 - The Telegraph

“It is difficult to express how entirely captivating this production is...Experimental theatre that continuously pushes the boundaries of dramatic art, its gothic splendor endeavoring to intoxicate its audience completely”
- Skinny Fest

“As spooky as you’ll find this side of a ghost train”
– The Scotsman

“With probably the best set of any production on the Fringe and possibly anywhere else, watching The Performance Corporation’s Dr Ledbetter’s Experiment is like being in your own computer adventure game. Performances are excellent…the overall effect, a night out not to be missed..”
– The Stage

“the tricks with lights and mirrors worked their magic… as creepy as a date with David Blunket”
– The List

“Genuinely spine-tingling moments in this ultimate appointment with fear”
- The Herald
 
“The sort of theatre any aficionado would kick themselves for missing….Blending the historic setting of the medical faculty with the technology of radio is a stroke of genius …highly entertaining.... stretches the boundaries and definitions of what theatre can be….Should not be missed.”
- Rogues and Vagabonds

"high-voltage fury of Tom Swift’s script… the unshakeable sense of tension which comes of literally teetering over the maelstrom of Swift’s surreal vision…tale of savagery and betrayal"

"ruthlessly physical theatre…wonderfully realised …original, visually striking tale of revenge"
- Irish Theatre Magazine

"A cross between Animal Farm and Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory"
- Ian Dempsey’s Breakfast show, Today FM

Irreverent good fun…Jo Mangan directs a fearless and talented cast of nine with enormous energy and invention…infectious carnival spirit.
- The Guardian

Marvellous…splendid…fantastic choreography…fantastic cynicism about modern Ireland…jolly good! These people are really going to go somewhere, they’re terrific.
- Rattlebag (RTE)

sheer fun…ratings for energy and creativity are off the charts…the company’s signature style is very much in place
- The Irish Times

a madcap revue… smart and full of potential hilarity…it points to director Jo Mangan's particular gift with actors: whatever she does, she'd best keep doing it, as it is quite apparent from the stalls that the ensemble are having the craic as well as working their bums off…it's touches like that set The Performance Corporation apart.
- WOW

The 7 Deadly Sins…deadly in the very Dublin sense of the word; we just love them…cleverly styled.. observations about popular culture and modern society are spot on…the nine strong cast show tremendous energy and are all accomplished physical office….wears its slapstick on its sleeve.
- The Sunday Tribune

Enormously funny. A great idea…frenetic pace...good gags…impressive movement…huge enthusiasm from the players.
- The Sunday Independent

“extraordinarily entertaining…restlessly inventive…invigorating…adventurous…ingenuity. Excellent production. Black Adder meets South Park!”
- Rattlebag (RTE)

"...masterpiece theatre...genuinely funny production...great comic performances."
- Sunday Business Post

“…staged with energy and irreverence…slick and polished…”
- The Irish Times

“…exceptional energy, resourcefulness, and imagination…innovative production”
- Variety

“tight, stylish slice of anarchic humour… uniformly excellent actors…simply hilarious”
- Irish Theatre Magazine
“.. delightfully funny and creative”
- WOW

Additional reviews from tour of Candide

“an accomplished and energetic riot, gloriously funny…played with superb glee and timing”
-Sunday Independent

“Slick, stylised and painstakingly clever..effortlessly funny.”
-Sunday Times