*SPOILERS BELOW*

The Axe began with an email informing me that I must infiltrate the Patchwork militia for the Scarecrow. I was to gather as much information as I could and report back to the Scarecrow. It would be dangerous, but the land of Oz is in turmoil, so danger was to be expected.

I was put into a group of 4 and introduced to a Patchwork militia recruitment officer…or at least that’s who I thought she was. Not too long after meeting her, we discovered that she actually worked for REVOLT, a secret organization led by none other than Glinda, the Good Witch of the North. After a few minutes of grilling, the recruiter believed or just didn’t care that our group were looking to join the Patchwork militia. She led us to meet Glinda.

We immediately discover that Glinda had changed a bit since Dorthy left. The happy and kindly pink-dress-wearing witch was gone. Instead, we found a grime-covered, axe-weilding young woman in the midst of interrogating a tearful chained prisoner. We watched as she interrogated him and soon discovered he was none other than the Tin Man himself. As the scene continued, our group learned of his love and hurt with some of the best acting I’ve ever seen at an immersive theater event. At this point, one of our group members was sent away with a mischievous woman, and we did not see her again for another 10 minutes. The rest of us remained in the tent and continued watching and listening to Glinda’s tale.

Then at one point, while Glinda was occupied with other business, the Tin Man asked if we knew the location of Dorothy. When he finally realized that we were all ignorant of her location, he grew upset. He finally jumped up and threw off his chains, crying out that their ruse had failed. As it turned out, the Tin Man and Glinda were working together to try and get info from us. The interrogation had been a fake. Glinda ordered us out, as we were no longer useful.

Outside the tent we were reunited with our last group member and the mischievous woman she was with. We spend only a moment with her, and during this time discover that she is none other than the cowardly Lion. She then leads us outside the tent and back to the entrance room, to end the play.

Our group reconvenes in the entrance room, to discuss what we’d seen. It turns out that our final group member had engaged in a very intimate and intense conversation with the Lion while she’d been away. The Lion had revealed that she had no alliances to any side, but instead played both sides to see how she would most benefit. She’d already found Dorothy, and was keeping her at a safe location until she could decide how best to use her. She’d given our friend a card with a phone number that was a direct line to Dorothy.

Once outside the venue, we called the number and connected to a recording of a frantic angry woman who told us to stay away from Dorothy. She hung up and left us excited to discover more.

Press photos Courtesy of The Speakeasy Society