The Wizard of Oz was one of those films when I was younger which was put on on a Sunday afternoon when it was wet and miserable to keep me and my brother entertained for a few hours. I have seen this film more times than I care to admit (almost as many as Dirty Dancing and that has to be in the 100s). I know it inside out, back to front and upside down and could probably (poorly) play every role while being tossed about in a tornado.
I played a member of the lullaby league in a local production of Wizard of Oz when I was about 7 (I still have my papier-mache tin man) and when I was at high school, I sang “Somewhere over a Rainbow”, admittedly the Eva Cassidy version, in a school talent show.
You can imagine, therefore, what my face looked like when I saw that a new adaption was not only being put on this summer but that it is open air AND IMMERSIVE!! (well its a little bit immersive – more kind of interactive) Immersion Theatre have ticked all the boxes in my mind – an immersive Wizard of Oz with “lashings of audience participation, dazzling costumes, an original script and plenty of laughter, this faithful re-telling promises to have you shouting, clapping and singing along to a host of brand new songs.”
The only thing that could be better is if it was part Oz part Dirty Dancing. (scrap that, I am not sure that I want to see Dorothy Gale and the tin man…if I have to have that thought in my mind, so do you.)
So, I have now been invited to click my heels and skip down the yellow brick road to Oz, into a magical family show which Immersion Theatre guarantee will have me in stitches from beginning to end and I am super excited. Not only that but it is being performed at some incredible venues including Hever Castle, Leeds Castle and Blenheim Palace among many others!
Immersion Theatre are renowned for making incredible immersive versions of some of our favourites, including Taming of the Shrew, The Importance of Being Ernest and Wind in the Willows, and I have no doubt that this will continue the trend of amazing productions.
What is incredible is theyre also working on several other exciting shows for the coming months – Journey’s End in Autumn 2016, Little Shop of Horrors between August and November 2016, Alice in Wonderland in Spring 2017 and this year’s panto, Robin Hood
So, what’s stopping you? Join Dorothy on her quest to the Emerald City with her loyal friends: the brainless but cheeky scarecrow, the cowardly lion and the heartless (literally!) tin man and navigate your way through a magical land in search of the mighty and mysterious, Wizard of Oz.
Next up – interviews with Immersion Theatre’s Artistic Director and Writer James Tobias, co founder and Cofounder of Immersion Theatre and Oz’s Wicked Witch of the West Rochelle Parry, and Ruby Slipper wearing leading lady herself Rachael Stratton
Starting on 1st July in Cambridge and travelling all over the country until 25th August.
More details can be found: http://www.immersiontheatre.co.uk/outdoor-the-wizard-of-oz/
Playhouse Pickings 