With the housing crisis and homelessness in the headlines every other day, Jo Randerson's play FOLD could not have come at a better time, director Alex Wilson says.
Described as a ''dark comedy'', FOLD was written in the mid-1990s and is award-winning author and playwright Randerson's first play.
It pokes fun at the people who think those in poverty are there because they deserve to be.
''It's laughing at them; taking the power back, showing they are not good for society,'' Wilson says.
The play does it through the conversations of a group of five acquaintances who love nothing more than exchanging random presents, talking about nothing in particular and listening to elevator music.
They have everything they ever wanted in life. Why don't you? They are all perfectly happy, or are they?
''It's a silly play, absurd in places. There are clowns, buffoons. It makes you laugh initially, then think.''
There are also song-and-dance routines.
Wilson, a theatre studies graduate from the University of Otago, who is also in the Fortune's improvisation team, Improsaurus, and starred in last year's My Dad's Boy at the Fortune, believes the show is just as relevant as it was in the 1990s, given the global political environment and the recent New Zealand election.
''There is this tension between the privileged and powerful and those who do not have so much.
''It's realising the power of inequality. It's good to see that analysed and thought about.''
The cast's backdrop is a set made in Wilson's backyard by some of the cast and an enthusiastic builder.
''It's a cross between a junkyard, a mental asylum and graveyard.''
The idea is to make the set seem ''otherworldly'' to create an experience for the audience.
Wilson and the cast - Marea Colombo, Abby Howells, Alex Martyn, Ben McCarthy, Sam Shannon and Nick Tipa - began rehearsals about a month ago and have continued to make discoveries as they go.
''It's quite dark, but also funny, quirky, weird in all the best ways.''
That mix has required the cast to call on all their skills - comedic and dramatic - to pull it off.
FOLD is Arcade's first production and is proving to be just what Wilson hoped for - a place for emerging theatre artists to ply their trade.
''It's really exciting. They all come up with these amazing ideas and really take ownership.''
Everyone involved is giving a hand where needed, right down to the marketing manager giving up his set of drawers for the set.
''People are using their craft and their skills in a labour of love.''
Arcade also sees its role as providing an opportunity to stage productions Dunedin's more mainstream theatre's could not.
''This is so weird, unusual. It's a bit oddball so not one the major theatres would do.''
The company also wanted to speak to a young theatre-going audience and give younger actors a voice with works that speak to contemporary issues.
''It really sets the scene, the tone for Arcade. It's poignant and a comedy, so it's a good starting point for the rest of the season.''
Arcade, which has its origins in the now defunct Counterpoint Productions, has programmed four plays for its first season. After FOLD, it will stage The First Time, by Courtney Rose Brown, an award-winning new drama that examines the highs and lows of women coming of age in New Zealand.
Then they will produce Martin McDonagh's Lieutenant of Inishmore, an acerbic Irish comedy, before their final show of the year, Howells' Attila the Hun, which will be presented as part of Arts Festival Dunedin 2018, a fast-paced comedy set in a late-night burger restaurant operated by a hapless crew of wastrels including one who believes he is the legendary warrior Attila the Hun.
