“Beautiful Cracked Eyes, a series of unearthly scenes which surprise, move, stimulate and inspire – has undoubtedly set the scene here for a mysterious sound-scape – perhaps one of the most distinctive ever to grace the Purcell Room.” - John Wheatley, Tempo
“Captivating with its icon-like sounds and musical form… Simplicity and intensity are married in a congenial way.” - Jury citation of StreetSong, winner 1st Prize ICSM World Music Days 2006 Short Cuts Competition
Her ability to “challenge, provoke and engage” was here evinced and one wants to hear this piece again and, indeed, more of her music”.- Beautiful Cracked Eyes, Colin Anderson, Classical Source
“Movement patterns repeated again and again in an autistic way, to protect against the unbearable. Ailís Ní Ríain has something important to tell.” - Linda Isaksson – Nummer.se
“Listening to it stops me in my tracks. This is a composer who can get right under the skin.” - Bob Gilmore, The Journal of Music in Ireland
“Gloom springs through the text in its musicality… a kind of internal-sounding dimension that transformed the ensemble with great feeling and finesse.” - Sven Rånlund – www.gp.se
“Ni Riain has constructed a thing of sad, haunted beauty and inherent musicality. Each rapid-fire phrase pummels the air in a series of blistering crescendos, passed around the family like a choral litany. In truth it’s an elegy to their own lost lives, building to a symphony fuelled by love and anger.” - Review of TILT, The Glasgow Herald
“Thought provoking and delicately crafted.”- Michael Dungan, The Irish Times, 2005. (review of First Absolute Execution)
“A perfectly-pitched piece of theatre that features heart-stopping performances…it promises a fine future for a writer who has only recently turned to theatre, after an early career as a composer that has clearly influenced every breath and intonation of this intense and musical piece of drama.” - Review of TILT, The Scotsman
“The Dead Live – a deeply impressive performance of an austere, well-written piece by the Irish composer Ailis Ni Riain conducted by James MacMillan” - Michael Tumelty, The Glasgow Herald. (review of The Dead Live)
“A bleak journey through a nightmare. The subject is heavy: Child abuse. This play is special. It requires attention. I sense the text, which is flowing in a special way, with choruses, with repetitions and variations, as a song.” - Marita Adamsson – bohuslaningen.se
“Of all the 24:7 Theatre Festival productions I’ve seen this year Cell is by far one of the strongest and could well be a springboard to greater success for those involved.” **** 5-star - Malcolm Wallace, Review of CELL, What’s on Stage.
“The experience of BEATEN (Tilt) is that her musical personality is so strong that her work will penetrate the text and create a compound theatrical language rather than merely complementing it.” - Johnny Hanrahan, Artistic Director, Meridian Theatre Company
“A startlingly confident new Irish play… Ni Riain has hit the ground running… Graeme Maley does not let us off the hook for any of the play’s undoubted pain… Strong performances” - Review of TILT Evening Echo, Cork
“The voices are orchestrated, the exchanges brittle as if a melodic line were to counterbalance the staccato. What emerges is a sense of the sweetness of a shared victimhood, created with such delicate intensity that it feels as if the audience itself is holding its breath” Review of TILT, The Irish Times
“This is a very strong entry to the festival with lots of great humour carried by a superb central performance from Cassidy.”- Review of CELL, The British Theatre Guide
“Good writing-poetic in parts- with the meaningful use of music. Worth a visit.” **** Review of CELL, Manchester Evening News