Unfortunately they’re not naked onstage but My First Time is still worth it.
Tales of chastity lost provides a simple fun night out
In the backseat of a van. On the floor in my bedroom. In a Banff hotel. On my mom’s waterbed. In a church basement. Behind the garbage bin.
These are some of the locations where opening night patrons of My First Time lost their virginity. The sheer variety is a good indication of the breadth of stories contained herein and how we always compulsively and curiously want to know more.
Taking stories from the popular website myfirsttime.com writer Ken Davenport has essentially adapted the best stories of first-time sexual encounters and shameful misfires into a series of interweaving monologues delivered by four actors. The stories are hilarious charming and embarrassing only occasionally dipping into the truly shocking and heartbreaking. For the most part they are just outrageous anecdotes with all-too-familiar emotions.
With a focus on words staging and costumes are left suitably sparse. The foursome sit on stools sharply dressed in button-up shirts and vests as they take turns in the spotlight. A large screen continually projects quotes and stats throughout the show. An enlightening tidbit: the average user spends 12 minutes on myfirsttime.com whereas on cnn.com they spend eight.
Throughout the countless snippets of tales we hear it’s the little details in each story that make them stick and ring of authenticity. There is the fact that “he” didn’t take his socks off when they did it. The cigarettes on her breath when they kissed. The girl named Cheri that was pronounced cherry.
David Trimble as the older Man #1 gets many of the racier more comedic stories (“I remember my first sexual experience. I was alone at the time.”). From copious drug use to an inappropriately public subway encounter it is his mile-high club story (of course there’s a mile high story) that reigns supreme — delivered with a proud strut and a sly smirk.
The stories are not static or exclusive though. Beforehand surveys are filled out by the audience and the stories are shared anonymously throughout the show. It creates constant suspense anticipating your moment put out in the open and brings a communal sense to the evening.
Virgins are also well represented from strong-willed principles (“Society is cruel to us virgins but we must not submit to their pressures.”) to religious extremism. One of the play’s smartest moments intercuts the biblical Jesus with the “Jesus” we scream in the throes of passion.
Each cast member gets to take on dozens of roles but it is Jamie Konchak who gets the juiciest. Her stories range from a rare double-narrative with Tyrell Crews — a simple charmer about a pair of teens walking each other home — to the play’s most heart-stopping and tragic piece. If nothing else sticks this quiet unexpected shocker stays with you. It’s almost uncomfortably out-of-place in context of the stories that bookend it.
While in no way family fodder My First Time is often a surprisingly tame and light-hearted affair mostly shying away from the darker more provocative stories in favour of recognizably awkward scenes and witty post-reflections. Short and sweet the play leaves plenty of tantalizing hints hanging (“It was like Christmas morning only worse”; “I owe it all to my mom.”) with our curiosity never getting its full release.
The show is simply quality time with friends a fun date with a few drinks a good night at the theatre and ultimately isn’t trying to be anything more. Like they say at the end — young or old planned or unplanned straight or gay — it’s neither the big deal or the earth-shattering moment that it’s built up to be. After all there’s always the next time.
