Dorothy in Oz: An Immersive Cocktail Adventure takes audiences into a magical world, blending stage craft, science, and storytelling in a way that feels both nostalgic and imagined.

After the global success of Alice in Wonderland: An Immersive Cocktail Experience, writer, director, theatre-maker Alex Wregg is turning his attention to another classic.

In our conversation, Wregg described this work as the natural evolution from Alice. “I’ve always been into fairy tales and classic children’s stories,” he reflected. “The magic in them is a great match with immersive theatre, especially when you use science to do extraordinary things.” This philosophy underpins the production’s practical wizardry─Telsa balls sparking with energy, potions crafted as cocktails, and puzzles that invite discovery through touch.

As a child, Wregg read all fourteen of L. Frank Braum’s novels and was eager to draw inspiration beyond the first book that so often dominates adaptations. This production leans into the dark fantasy world of the 1980’s film Return to OZ and reaches across Braum’s wider series, introducing characters such as Tip, Princess Ozma, and Mombi alongside Dorothy, Glinda and the Scarecrow. When casting, the criteria was based on actors ability to bring their own interpretation, so no two nights are ever quite the same. Each character is shared across four actors. A practical necessity to sustain the run, but also an artistic choice. “We tried to be unafraid in our casting,” Wregg explained. “Including a female Scarecrow. This is nothing new. Hamlets have been played by all sorts of people throughout the years, from different cultures and backgrounds.”

Wregg’s love for immersive theatre began when he encountered Jetpack Theatre’s Art Heist, a production that combined puzzles, live actors and playful interactivity. “Sometimes you go along to things and think that’s wonderful but it’s so far way from me and my world.” He recalled during our conversation. “Whereas this was something that ticked all my boxes.”

From there, he created The Art of Murder, where audiences became detectives, dusting for fingerprints, learning how to pick locks, and cracking codes. The spirit of play, where the audience participates and guides the story carries into Dorothy in Oz. Part of the show’s concept is inviting the audience to help break a curse by casting a spell. Tasks double as cocktail making (alcoholic and non-alcoholic). “We’re so divorced from physical objects because of how much time we spend on screens,” Wregg observed. His aim is not for attendees to sit back and watch but stand inside the story. “I want people to feel like they are on a set and they’re characters in a movie.”

As our conversation draws to a close, Wregg emphasised that Dorothy in Oz is designed to be a crowd–pleaser─light, whimsical, and joyful. “I want people to walk out with a smile on their face,” he said, “feeling like they’ve touched something mystical, something magical. And maybe wondering why they don’t go to more live theatre.”

And on the question of what inspires him as a creative?

“You have to get inspiration from everywhere. Watch everything. Read everything. Travel. Care. Artists are often ravenous in their desire to see new things, and somewhere in the back of your mind it all starts to synthesise─‘how would I do that?’ or ‘I liked that, but I’d do it differently.’ That becomes part of your personality, part of what makes you distinct as an artist. If you see enough different things, your tastes change. You develop preferences that set you apart. It’s that voracious appetite for art that keeps me going.”

With its fusion of fantastical tales, interactive puzzles, and a cocktail or two along the way, Dorothy in Oz: An Immersive Cocktail Adventure offers a chance to step inside a story and take part in its magic.

For more information visit Dorothy in Oz: An Immersive Cocktail Adventure