The venue for ROADKILL: The Uber-Cool Musical, the van is parked in the city this week as part of this year’s Dunedin Fringe Festival.
One-man writer, producer and performer Tom Knowles said the show was a mix of English comedian James Corden’s Carpool Karaoke, an intense love story and a psychological thriller.
"And I’ve jammed it all in a van with all original music and made a full-arena spectacular musical.
"If you’re a musical theatre lover, you’ll love it."
It follows Terry, a fictional Uber driver, who, through songs and anecdotes, shares various milestones and mishaps from his life, with a little help from the audience.
Both the character and the storyline had been inspired by road rage and "the oversharing of rideshare drivers", Knowles said.
"I was always interested in what’s behind the curtain of the Uber driver.
"We hear the small-talk stories quite often when we hop in a car, but I was interested in what’s going on behind the scenes.
"When you’re trapped inside of a car trying to get somewhere and someone just continuously talks, it’s quite an interesting dynamic.
The 10-seat 2010 Toyota Hiace was equipped with flashing LED strip lights, three television screens, a disco ball, a "club-like" smoke machine, wireless microphones and a full sound system — all of which he had kitted out himself.
He had even added a second car battery, so the system was powered internally.
When not hosting a musical, the van was his main mode of transport — one he used to pick up his 3-year-old child from daycare, Knowles said.
"The Toyota Hiace is a multi-purpose vehicle — you just can’t beat it in terms of reliability.
"It’s the tried and tested workhorse of New Zealand, really, isn’t it?"
ROADKILL: The Uber-Cool Musical is showing today, tomorrow and Thursday.
