Writer: Michele Sheldon
Directors: Michele Sheldon and the cast
Based on a real-life grassroots campaign, Fleecehold is a powerful tale of a centuries-old battle between the rich and the poor. And if the ongoing campaign is successful, it will change the lives of millions of homeowners who have leaseholds in England and Wales.
When Katie Kendrick bought her house in the North East through the Government Help to Buy scheme, she thought that the house would be hers. But soon she found out that she was only a tenant, leasing the ground on which her house was built. A few years later she discovered that her leasehold had been sold to another company who increased the ground rent and made it almost impossible for her – and her fellow neighbours – to buy the freehold. When she bought her house, the freehold would have cost £3,000; now the price is £30,000.
When a neighbour was charged by the freeholders for building a conservatory, Kendrick looked into the system of permissions where the freeholders have to be paid if the homeowners want to change their house or garden in any way. The freeholders can also charge even for the letters they write.
When Kendrick and two friends set up the National Leasehold Campaign (NLC), some people said their problems were down to the house buyers not scrutinising their contracts carefully enough. But often these buyers were pressurised into these deals and were told by the building companies that they could only use certain solicitors who told their clients that they needn’t worry about the term ‘virtual freehold.’ This collusion between building companies and lawyers is nothing short of a scandal.
This story of three women fighting the system is similar to the film Made in Dagenham where women fought against sexual discrimination or the recent play Strike! where female shop workers (and one man) protested against apartheid in South Africa. But both these productions are full of drama, something that Fleecehold lacks. After all, how can you create excitement out of a dry, complicated system that has been around since the days of William the Conqueror?
Writer Michele Sheldon responds to this dilemma by, quite sensibly, adding humour. But too much of the play’s humour comes from pantomime-style villains, all of whom are played by male actors. Of course, this demonstrates that the women are not just fighting the wealthy but a patriarchal society too. However, these broad strokes where every (rich) man is a baddie, eliciting boos from the audience on the first night, damage a little the message of the play.
Another issue is that we don’t see enough of the women. Each scene in which the male characters are prominent, whether they be freeholders from the past or businessmen from the present, goes on for far too long and the jokes are quickly overdone. Without these sections the play could last a tidy 60 minutes, Instead, it lasts for 80.
As Kendrick, Lucille Ferguson gives a winning, no-nonsense performance and she is well supported by Sasha Ravencroft and Cath Burton who play Jo Darbyshire and Cath Williams, the other two founders of NLC. Occasionally they stumble over the huge amount of legal jargon they have to expound, but perhaps some of this ‘unnatural’ dialogue could be cut in later iterations of the play. Of the other actors, Philip Honeywell has great fun in all his roles, but – in the nicest possible way as there is nothing wrong with his actring – the play would work better if we saw a little less of him, especially his feudal lord.
We love David and Goliath stories like these in Britain, and with some changes and further character development of the three female protagonists, this could be a big play indeed. But as a way to garner support for the NLC, Fleecehold does its job admirably.
Runs until 13 August 2023
Camden Fringe runs until 27 August 2023
The Reviews Hub Score
Power to the People
