Avora: Frozen Realm to launch this November
The Shoreditch-based immersive cocktail experience will get a festive makeover next month.
Photo: Inventive Productions
From 3rd November, the Shoreditch-based sci-fi cocktail theatre experience will be transformed as part of a seasonal special with Avora: Frozen Realm, a winter version of the immersive cocktail experience in which guests are recruited as scientists and sent through a gateway to a bioluminescent planet that has iced over.
Avora is a bioluminescent planet, and this winter it has frozen. Roscorp, the corporation running the expedition there, says the freeze is seasonal. Its lead scientist, Dr Shelly, believes every word of the official report. Its head of security, Mason Kriel, is less convinced. The Avorians, the planet's native civilisation, seem entirely untroubled by the cold.
For anyone who has been to Avora before, the story has been rebuilt with a new storyline, new set and a new cocktail format. Recruits join a Roscorp expedition to study Luminol, a substance found throughout Avora's ecosystem with the potential to transform medicine and energy on Earth. Roscorp keeps its access through a fragile cultural exchange with the Avorians, and the mission soon reveals more than anyone was briefed for.
Guests arrive as Roscorp's newest recruits. They check in, lock away their belongings and change into Roscorp jumpsuits. Dr Shelly's briefing explains the cold away, Mason runs the security search, and each recruit is handed a flask of synthesised Luminol, the first of three cocktails, to carry through the gateway. On the other side is a frozen world. CODA, Roscorp's AI, runs the investigation from there on guests' own phones, where they can unlock evidence to help their mission.
Photo: Inventive Productions
The drinks follow Luminol, the substance Roscorp has come to study, through its three states. When the Avorians meet the recruits in the forest, the second cocktail arrives on a tree log: diluted Luminol, drawn from Avora's streams. The last one glows. It is Luminol in its purest form, from the Tree of Spirits. Avora's bar team of skilled mixologists make every drink; mocktail versions of all three are also available, and a live cast stays in character throughout.
The Avorians speak warmly of the Harvest, a sacred celebration that is almost here. Roscorp would rather talk about the weather.
Sam Shearman, founder of Inventive Productions, comments:
When we opened Avora in 2022, the question guests faced was whether to exploit a new world or protect it. The new story flips that: you arrive certain you're the visitor, and slowly realise you might not be. For winter, we wanted the freeze to be the first clue. Roscorp has a perfectly reasonable explanation for it, and Dr Shelly believes every word. Mason doesn't, and guests will uncover the truth along the way.
Photo: Inventive Productions
Avora: Frozen Realm runs from 3rd November 2026 to 10th January 2027, Tuesday to Sunday, with afternoon sessions on Saturdays and Sundays. Large groups can privately hire for Christmas parties: once the mission concludes, the group keeps the venue for the rest of its booked time.
Avora: The Frozen Realm runs at 127 Hackney Rd near Hoxton from 3rd November 2026 to 10th January 2027. Tickets are priced from £44.50 per person. For more information and to book tickets, visit frozen.avora-experience.co.uk
