Pitching A Tent: an inclusive comedy at the Hamilton Gardens Arts Festival designed with access in mind

Pitching A Tent is a fun piece of theatre that looks at the differences and similarities in other peoples' lives that you wouldn't expect. Photo / Supplied

Hamilton Gardens Arts Festival is in full swing and if you haven't yet experienced any of the great drama on offer there's a local show playing this Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday evening that offers a good laugh as well as making you think about the issues it raises.

Pitching a Tent by LOUD Creative has a cast that all face physical challenges in real life.

They play four old friends with different backgrounds, different personalities, and very different views on how to handle the world as the disparate group take on a weekend of camping in the great Kiwi outdoors.

There's Frank, the "she'll be right" hetero white man; Trish, a very Kiwi uptight highly strung woman; James, who is neutrally diverse; and Soup, with a physical disability.

Devised by Mel Martin, Sharan Singh, Nicholas Bourchier and Jono Freebaim, and directed by Kate Booker, Pitching a Tent is described as an inclusive comedy designed with access in mind.

As the characters search for meaning behind the absence of one of their own (among other things) we find out that they each have issues.

But they're not what we think they are; and they have nothing to do with pitching a tent.

Booker says the struggles to put up a tent and the isolation of camping forces the characters to have conversations they don't want to have.

Pitching a tent and going camping is a quintessential part of being a New Zealander and audiences will relate to being in a beautiful location but a stressful situation with others under canvas.

The one act play for the Hamilton Gardens Arts Festival is a fun piece of theatre that looks at the differences and similarities in other peoples' lives that you wouldn't expect.

LOUD was formed with the intention of being the change it wants to see in the world. It says that in 2019, there should be no such thing as accessibility issues, and LOUD has quickly made a reputation for being leaders in making this happen.

Originally performed at The Meteor in Hamilton at the beginning of November, Pitching A Tent has been tweaked and expanded by the four person writing team and the play is still evolving.

The cast are very excited to be performing in the Rogers Rose Garden and are excited at being able to "put pegs in the ground" and are looking forward to setting up camp.

Pitching a Tent by LOUD Creative is in the Rogers Rose Garden this week, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, 27-28 Feb and 1 March at 7pm.

Click here for more information and tickets.