For The First Time Ever

2003

Co-Production German Stage Service and Pan Pan Theatre (Dublin)

For the first time ever are many things that all make spectacular sense at the end. It is a short hour about boob jobs and hate. A story for today that relays thoughts. 

A thematic foray into science, the fallout of war and the rise of the memoir. 

A comedy about therapy, war and weapons of mass destruction and the fact that nobody is interested in missing adults. 

It is set in a space ship heading for a new world. There is no genre stuff and no flashbacks. It is an urgent obligato. It straddles both art and reality. 

We are all useless eaters. The weekend is the same as the week days. We are determined to be friendly and have fun. We are honest and real. We have examples of unacceptable behaviour. We are at a loss at what to do in the evenings. 

For the first time ever is in a pure field and cannot be reduced for public consumption to boy meets girl. The real action takes place in the caverns of the mind. For the first time ever is a self  portrait of three characters who when hypnotised are asked to focus on a trip to Disney Land.  The German Stage Service actors play the missing adult characters, Helen Lovemore, Debra Bourgeoise and Useless Paul. 

It is also the story of three robots sent to war and their journey back to civilian robot life told through the original three robots who went to war in the first place. In the end they are transformed into constantly moving happiness machines. 

For the first time ever is a metaphor for narrative and for life and floats willy nilly on the tide of the words.

For the first time ever uses the convention of a war story to explore themes of desire, loss and the act of theatre itself. It is an alchemical process of collusion. The audience and the perfomers collude to make something out of nothing.