by 29 Scenes

Theatre

“Hello? Mum? I’m calling from the future…”

A sweeping, multigenerational story, Never Always Ever Was weaves together the lives of Danny, a restless young man from Belfast determined to escape the monotony of home in search of purpose and adventure, and Julia, a recent university graduate from Port Fairy who has returned home to find a way to turn her passion for environmental conservation into meaningful action. Their fateful meeting on New Year’s Eve in 1989, at a small-town pub, sets the stage for an exploration of identity, home, and the far-reaching ripple effects of the choices we make.

Told across four key moments in time – 1989, 1996, 2025, and 2049 – the play traces one family’s journey through both intimate and monumental change, asking how we live, what we pass on, and how we choose to face an uncertain future. At its core, it’s about the quiet, everyday acts of love, care, and resilience that echoes across generations. Against a backdrop of environmental shifts and disappearing coastlines, it explores how family, memory, and place can anchor us, even as the world transforms.

This dynamic two-hander brings together one actor from Northern Ireland and one from Australia to embody a vivid tapestry of interconnected characters. Through the entwined stories of Danny, Julia, their ancestors, and descendants, Never Always Ever Was reflects on the environmental challenges facing coastal communities – revealing both the fragility and enduring strength of the places we call home, and the futures we strive to protect.

This work was commissioned by c21 Theatre, Belfast, with support from the British Council’s Connections Through Culture grant, and developed with additional partnership support from the National Celtic Festival. The development of this work has also been supported by Geelong Arts Centre, Geelong Creative Commissions, The Seaborn, Walford & Broughton Foundation, British Council Northern Ireland, and Culture Ireland.

Photographs by Adrian McClure

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