Review: Hexmoor Wizarding Prison by Inventive Productions

Photo: Inventive Productions

Hexmoor: Wizarding Prison is the latest show from Inventive Productions, the company behind Alcotraz, Avora and Moonshine Saloon - three of London's best-known immersive cocktail experiences. Based within the same venue as Alcotraz (a short walk from Hoxton Overground station), Hexmoor invites guests to serve their time behind bars under the watchful eye of Cordelia Constance-Xanthe, a sorceress who's said to dabble in the dark arts. Over 105 minutes, Hexmoor combines immersive performance, pyrotechnics and interactive sets to deliver a story which centres around an ancient prophecy that threatens the lives of everyone within its walls.

Much like Inventive's other shows and Secret Cinema productions of years gone by, the experience begins before arriving at the venue with an online form. Sent on behalf of the Bureau of Arcane Order, the form is designed to determine guests' crimes and flesh out their own backstories, giving them a jumping-off point for conversations with the cast during their visit and easing them into the show's world. Depending on each guest's chosen magical discipline, many potential crimes are offered up, ranging from Grand Theft Brooms and reckless creature conjuring to trading cursed artefacts.

Photo: Inventive Productions

Once at the venue, guests receive an in-world health and safety briefing before being escorted to the iron gates of Hexmoor and placed under the supervision of Jamie, a human guard from Indianapolis who's ended up at Hexmoor as part of an exchange programme. While he's enthusiastic and keen to make a good impression on his superiors, Jamie is fairly clueless about the inner workings of Hexmoor's magical world. Working alongside them is tiefling guard Aephon, who's much more clued up on Hexmoor and makes a menacing first impression, sprinting full speed down a torchlit corridor towards the freshly imprisoned audience.

After a warm welcome from Hexmoor's head, Cordelia, in their office, convicts are ushered into their cells and told to put on their green and white Hexmoor jumpsuits (a more fashion-forward colour scheme than Alcotraz's mandatory bright orange attire). Each of Hexmoor's cells holds up to six people, with smaller parties being grouped together in the same cell if necessary.

Soon after settling into their cells, guests are told about the ongoing disappearances of Hexmoor's prisoner population by fellow inmate Sidwell, who claims a prisoner has vanished from Hexmoor every night for the last two months. Cordelia, ever keen to keep their prison in good standing, denies any nefarious goings-on, but in the next breath, a prophecy echoes throughout the prison, speaking of the evil Hollow King's return and the need for those within Hexmoor to find the fabled Cardinal Wand and get it into the hands of the 'chosen one' before the clock strikes midnight, lending credence to Sidwell's theory.

Photo: Inventive Productions

Much of Hexmoor's storyline comes via scenes performed by the cast in the centre of Hexmoor's main space. They're a notable step up in terms of production value from Inventive's other shows and feature pyrotechnics, dramatic lighting changes, choreographed fights and wand duels. Those in the farthest corners of the space may struggle to get a good sightline for some of these scenes, but the intimacy of the venue means that the key plot points still come across, even if prison bars obscure your view.

Alongside the plot delivered through these key scenes, several curious tidbits are dropped by the show's cast during in-cell interactions, which happen sporadically throughout the show. They're a great opportunity to get answers to any burning questions, and as is the case with most immersive shows, the more guests put into these interactions, the more they'll get back. Across the board, Hexmoor's cast are happy to improv with prisoners, and deftly balance expanding the show's world and colouring in details of its overarching storyline with light-hearted moments of humour.

Despite warnings of smoking and vaping (including Invisarettes) being banned within Hexmoor, tiefling guard Aephon can at one point be seen dealing invisible smokes to prisoners, offering freebies to those bold enough to ask, and interactions with Jamie and Sidwell concerning the crimes that saw guests end up behind bars often descend into banterous back and forths, as long as the show's rules, which prohibit crude and overly-friendly interactions with the cast, are respected.

Photo: Inventive Productions

While guests are confined to their cells for a lot of the show, there are several excursions that each group are taken on throughout the experience. The most substantial has guests casting a portal inside Cordelia's office to visit a wand shop in search of the Cardinal Wand. With a plume of green smoke and some magical words (improvised by a guest from each group), the office's fireplace gives way to a small corridor, teleporting guests directly outside the store. Inside, dusty boxes of wands are stacked up floor to ceiling, and further audience interactions with the eccentric Camomile (played by the same cast member as Cordelia) await.

Later in the experience, small groups of guests are snuck out of their cells by Sidwell, who's keen to find out who they suspect of colluding with the Hollow King after revealing a hidden evidence board, complete with crude drawings of Hexmoor's staff and prisoners, all linked together with string and scribbled notes. Both of these scenes do a good job of involving the show's audience in the storyline, and their smaller capacity means that everyone has a chance to contribute, and much like in other Inventive Productions shows, it gives audiences some guaranteed face time with the show's cast outside of their cells.

Photo: Inventive Productions

Given the show's magical setting, it'll come as little surprise that several of Hexmoor's three included cocktails have flourishes that are in keeping with the world. Prisoners can expect to be served both a luminous green gin and elderflower cocktail that billows smoke and bubbles away, as well as a rum-based drink that changes colour with each additional ingredient throughout the experience, in addition to a third, slightly less visually impressive cocktail. Regardless of how Instagrammable each one is, they're also some of the best-tasting options on offer across all of Inventive Production's shows - likely helped by not requiring guests to provide their own spirits, unlike in Alcotraz and Moonshine Saloon.

Those trying to apply logic and work out why prisoners would be served drinks while behind bars will be relieved to hear that these three cocktails are referred to in-world as potions, and are designed to dampen the magical abilities of the prison population.

Photo: Inventive Productions

Although it doesn't veer too far from Alcotraz's tried-and-tested structure, Hexmoor goes some way to building upon Inventive's original prison-based show and represents another ambitious step forward for the company, which has continually outdone itself with each new production. With a talented and committed cast, some great choreographed scenes and of course, three cocktails included as standard, it's hard not to fall under Hexmoor's spell.

★★★★

Guide: London's Best Immersive Cocktail Experiences (2025)

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Hexmoor: Wizarding Prison is currently booking until 30th December 2026 on Hackney Road near Hoxton station. Tickets are priced from £53.95 per person and can be booked via hexmoor.co.uk

For more reviews of immersive experiences like Hexmoor: Wizarding Prison, check out our recent Reviews.