About the play
“Wir waren zuerst da” (“We Were Here First”) addresses cultural and social differences, taking as its starting point the collision of seemingly irreconcilable worlds. At its centre are prejudice, social labelling, fear of the Other and the question of how belonging is created in the first place.
It begins with an almost cartoonish situation at the pool of an all-inclusive resort: two couples in their mid-thirties start to “allocate” free sun loungers according to origin, language, religion and world view.
From this casting situation develops a sharp, humorous and at the same time precise observation of everyday racism, frustration, loneliness and social division.
Production photos
Credits
Magdalena Marszałkowska
30 September 2015, Ateliertheater, Vienna
Polish with German surtitles
Wojtek Czarniak Halina Graser Katarzyna Kuczer Agnieszka Małek Marcin Marszałkowski Katarzyna Waniek
Mariusz Orchel
Spectral Projekt
Danuta Strobl
Aleksandra Mazur
XYZ theatre group, Vienna
12 and 13 October 2015 (24th Polish Culture Days in Austria) and 6 and 7 June 2016, all at Ateliertheater, Vienna
Further productions
inszene – Theater & mehr, Vienna 2026
Florian Baurecht
Milada Bilik, Francisco Herrera, Stefan Holper, Reini Kutschera, Peter Masch, Sandra Masch, Susanna Steindl
19, 20 and 21 November 2026 at 19:00, 22 November 2026 at 16:00, Theatertreff Ybbsstraße, Ybbsstraße 15, 1020 Vienna
Hin & Weg theatre festival, Litschau 2022
Staged reading
Danuta Strobl
13 August 2022 (followed by a reading by the author) and 14 August 2022, Städtische Bühnen, Litschau
Teatr Nowy, Poznań 2022
My byliśmy tu pierwsi
Performative reading in the “Dramaty Nowe 2022” series
Zdenka Pszczołowska
Maria Bruni, Teresa Kwiatkowska, Martyna Zaremba-Maćkowska, Paulina Zwierz, Tomasz Mycan, Bartosz Włodarczyk
19 May 2022, Trzecia Scena, Teatr Nowy w Poznaniu
Pygmalion Theater, Vienna 2017
Chiara Hunski
David Ignjatovic, Lisa Kröll, Madeleine Steinwender, Paul Gruber, Daniela Neichl
28 June 2017, Pygmalion Theater, Vienna
Ateliertheater, Vienna
Guest performance by the XYZ theatre group, Kędzierzyn-Koźle 2016
My byliśmy tu pierwsi
Magdalena Marszałkowska
30 January 2016 at 15:00, Dom Kultury “Chemik”, Kędzierzyn-Koźle (Poland)
Publisher
The play is published by Kaiser & Co. theatre publishers (Vienna).