Hard-hitting drama tackles Belfast’s desperate housing crisis

Three Pay Days, written by exciting Belfast-based playwright Alice Malseed - winner of a New York Times critics’ 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 plead with family members to be legal guarantors.

Kabosh Artistic Director, Paula McFetridge said that housing was a microcosm of all that is wrong in society, trapping the poor in poverty while the rich grow richer.

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

After premiering at the EastSide Arts Festival on July 31, it will transfer to Féile an Phobhail on August 2 and 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 bring up her nine-year-old daughter, while juggling a job working in an upscale café. Patrick McBrearty is Stevie, an ‘off the books’ handyman who patches up the mouldy, Victorian properties that people fight hard to acquire. Mary Moulds is Jennifer, the nice, liberal café owner who is as much a part of the problem as the property owners who run the system.

The play features two Greek-style choruses: Money represents the rampant capitalism of the landlords, estate agents and property speculators while Larder speaks for the downtrodden, 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 their debts or being evicted to allow the landlords to hike up rents.

Alice Malseed, whose monologue Haven was part of the 'Under the Albert Clock series which won a New York Times critics award, is known for work that is funny, dark, full of energy and aimed at audiences interested in social and political themes that challenge the status quo.

She said:”It's been a real honour to be working in East Belfast, connecting with women's groups and The Larder community food hub staff and users. Through these moving and activating conversations, I've been able to get an insight into the everyday human impact of austerity and the housing crisis in East Belfast.

“Through writing 'Three Pay Days', I've tried to give a human voice to the cost-of-surviving crisis that has perpetuated in our community. I want audiences to realise 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 play was commissioned by EastSide Arts with funding from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland National Lottery Commissioning Programme.

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

"This scheme offers arts organisations and artists the opportunity to create and present new works of high artistic quality by providing game changing funding from The National Lottery.

"The Arts Council is committed to supporting the growth of artistic talent and projects that address contemporary societal issues. In this instance National Lottery funding supported new writing that addresses the important societal issue of austerity and its devastating impacts, and I would encourage everyone to go along this summer to experience what promises to be a powerful play.”

Rachel Kennedy, Manager of EastSide Arts and EastSide Arts Festival, added: “EastSide Arts commissioned Alice to write this piece because of her passion to share 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 shared with Alice be brought to life, in the hope that this play will be a catalyst for positive change."

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

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