Kabosh theatre company to present powerful new drama about the impact of Belfast’s housing crisis

Theatre company Kabosh will present a powerful new play about the impact of Belfast’s housing crisis on ordinary people at this month’s EastSide Arts Festival.

Three days paywritten by Belfast playwright Alice Malseed – winner of a New York Times Critics’ Choice Award – shines a light on the private rental market, which forces thousands of people to fight for a limited supply of decent homes, provide exorbitant deposits and beg family members to act as legal guarantors.

Kabosh artistic director Paula McFetridge said the housing was a microcosm of everything that was wrong with society, trapping the poor in poverty while the rich got richer.

She said: “Alice’s pen shines a relentless spotlight on this murky world, using cold facts and analysis to explore how the system is stacked in favour of those with lots of money. After years of austerity, broken promises and policies designed to punish the weak and vulnerable, people are exhausted and fed up.”

After premiering at the EastSide Arts Festival on July 31, the play will transfer to Féile an Phobhail on August 2 and will finish its run at the Playhouse in Derry on August 3.

The play stars Holly Hannaway as Anna, who is trying to find a suitable place to live and raise her nine-year-old daughter, while juggling a job at an upscale café. Patrick McBrearty is Stevie, an “off-the-books” handyman who fixes up the musty Victorian properties that people struggle so hard to acquire. Mary Moulds is Jennifer, the friendly, free-spirited café owner who is as much a part of the problem as the landlords who run the system.

The play features two Greek-style choruses: Money represents the unbridled capitalism of landlords, real estate agents and property speculators, while Larder speaks for the oppressed, forced to use food banks, who are perpetually exploited by the rich. They live in two worlds that rarely intersect, except when it comes to the poor paying off their debts or being evicted to allow landlords to raise rents.

Alice Malseed, whose monologue Refuge was part of the series ‘Under the Albert Clock’ which won a New York Times Critics’ Choice Award winner, is known for works that are funny, dark, energetic and aimed at audiences interested in social and political themes that challenge the status quo.

She said: “It has been a real honour to work in east Belfast, connecting with women’s groups and the staff and users of The Larder community food centre. Through these moving and empowering conversations, I have gained insight into the everyday human impact of austerity and the housing crisis in east Belfast.

“Through writing Three days payI tried to give a human voice to the cost of living crisis that has perpetuated itself in our community. I want the public to realize that we are all part of this: but through action, we can choose to be part of the problem or part of the solution.”

The piece was commissioned by EastSide Arts with funding from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland’s National Lottery Commissioning Programme.

Noirin McKinney, Arts Development Director at the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, said: “The Arts Council of Northern Ireland is delighted to support this new play by Alice Malseed at the EastSide Arts Festival through our National Lottery Commissioning Programme.”

Rachel Kennedy, EastSide Arts and EastSide Arts Festival Manager, added: “EastSide Arts commissioned Alice to write this play because of her passion for sharing the reality of what it means to live in poverty or destitution, a situation that is sadly still experienced by many people on a daily basis in East Belfast. We are excited to see the stories that people have shared with Alice come to life, in the hope that this play will be a catalyst for positive change.”

Three Pay Days will be performed as part of the EastSide Arts Festival at the Sanctuary Theatre on Castlereagh Street on Wednesday 31 July at 5.30pm and 8.30pm (tickets £10), at the Felons on the Falls Road on Friday 2 August at 7.30pm (tickets £12) and at the Playhouse Theatre in Derry/Londonderry on Saturday 3 August at 8pm (tickets £14).

For information on how to book, visit: www.kabosh.net/production/three-pay-days