Three Pay days

Written By: Alice Malseed
Directed By: Paula McFetridge
Production Premiere: 31st July 2024

Just Three Pay Days from it all fading away…

a searing portrayal of the human cost of austerity within a rigged social security system.

Anna’s been working hard to get back on her feet.

She’s can’t catch a break since COVID pulled the rug from under her.

She’s working in a café over in South Belfast. Boss is nice enough, with her expensive perfume and shiny white trainers, but the money isn’t great. Not great for Anna anyway. On top of the café, the boss is raking it in through her AirBnB side-hustle.

So, there is enough money to go around. It’s just not going around.

Whilst navigating bills and childcare costs, Anna’s stuck in a dodgy rental with damp walls and a leaking roof, wondering what needs to change for the money to trickle down.

The boss could easily afford to pay her properly.

The landlady could easily make the house more habitable.

But they know there are plenty of workers and tenants out there. Ones who will stay quiet to keep food on the table and any sort of a roof over their heads.

And what about the government? Surely they can do better than the 13+ years of austerity that has pushed so many in Belfast to the edge?

Jesus said “feed the hungry, lift the lowly, send the rich away.”

That was over 2000 years ago, can our government not get a grip?

Malseed’s script and Paula McFetridge’s staging echoes the politically-accented agitprop movement of the 1970s and early 1980s...work intended to provoke reaction and to agitate for change

British Theatre Guide
an extremely important piece of work that highlights what is happening in people’s lives

VIEWdigital
A timely and righteous play for today...another feather in the cap of Kabosh’s long commitment to making theatre that matters.

British Theatre Guide

CREATIVE TEAM

Cast:

Holly Hannaway

Patrick McBrearty

Mary Moulds

Creative team:

Stage Manager - Caitlín Hunter

Assistant Stage Managers - Sarah Reid & Jordan Nelson

Designer - Niamh Kearney

Sound Designer - Katie Richardson

BSL Interpreter - Kristina Laverty

Dialect Support - Brendan Gunn

Movement Support - Paula O’Reilly

Producer - Andrew Hume

Assistant Producer - Lizzie Howard

Public Relations - Gary Kelly

Production Brand Design - Laura Craig

Production Photography - Johnny Frazer

PAST PERFORMANCES

31st July - Sanctuary Theatre, Eastside Arts Festival
2nd August - The Felons, Féile an Phobail
3rd August - The Playhouse, Derry
Extracts performed at:
launch of the East Belfast Poverty Alliance Strategy, October and
launch of the East Belfast Strategic Framework 2025-30th September
An early draft of this production was read at the The Larder in July 2023 with Holly Hannaway, Shannen Lofthouse and Louise Mathews