Vicky Paterson was the ‘sad Oompa Loompa’ in the globally derided Willy Wonka Experience in Glasgow. It has led to a paid acting job at the Fringe in a Willy Wonka parody spin-off, but the viral attention has been exhausting. Adam Bloodworth meets Glasgow’s newest star
In what was surely the biggest viral moment of the year so far, hundreds of millions of people tuned into social media to see Kirsty Paterson dressed as ‘Sad Oompa Loompa’ at a rip-off Willy Wonka-themed immersive experience in February. Guests were charged £35 to enter and were greeted not by a view of paradise, as Wonka creator Roald Dahl wrote of Wonka’s Chocolate Factory, but a sparsely decorated warehouse described by one actor from the 1971 original film as more like a “meth factory.”
Photos of Paterson looking the opposite of a chipper Oompa Loompa in her white dungaree outfit were splashed across papers around the world, including the New York Times. She appeared on Good Morning America and Good Morning Britain. The world wanted to know who the ‘sad’ actor really was.
Now a spin-off parody, Willy’s Candy Spectacular, is playing at the Edinburgh Fringe. It features two of the original actors from the 1971 Gene Wilder film, Julie Dawn Cole and Paris Themmen, who played Veruca Salt and Mike Teevee as well as Paterson and a host of professional Broadway actors.
It’s been a “rollercoaster” for Paterson, the 29-year-old Glaswegian who until this February worked part-time as a princess at children’s birthday parties to supplement her full-time career in marketing. The international exposure has inspired her to pursue acting full time, but her rise to viral fame has also come with a toll, throwing her into the limelight in a manner that has not always been easy to deal with. There has been relentless cyber bullying, an inevitable and incredibly dark downside to viral fame.
‘I don’t want to be a sad Oompa Loompa forever’
“It’s a big relief for me that I’m getting management because it’s been chaos at times, it really has been, and my mental health has not been great at times,” she says. “It’s been a massive rollercoaster going from someone who wants to build up their yoga teaching to this. I am gonna take a week just to regulate myself and figure out the best way going forward because I don’t want to be a sad Oompa Loompa forever. I’ve had no help basically.”
Kirsty Paterson as the sad Oompa Loompa in Willy’s Candy Spectacular, now playing at the Pleasance Dome
“I need to focus on myself and my well-being right now,” she adds. “I don’t know what the future holds. It’s my 30th birthday soon, so I’m going to go back and just chill. I need to relax. It’s been a lot so I just need to process everything and figure out what’s the best way forward. Right now I’m so focused on the show that I’m not able to think. Just a couple days to myself, that’s all I need, just to breathe.”
In Willy’s Candy Spectacular, Paterson’s sad Oompa Loompa character is put down and patronised, much like Paterson was during the real Glasgow event. It tells the story of Paterson “being made fun of around the world,” says show producer Richard Kraft. Did Willy’s Candy Spectacular’s Hollywood producers Richard Kraft and Andy Fickman offer any professional mental health support? “No,” says Paterson.
Richard Kraft told City A.M. that cast and crew had been sensitive to Paterson’s experiences with bullying following the sad Oompa Loompa viral story in February, but that he hadn’t thought of offering any therapy or counselling: “She hasn’t asked for it, and with hindsight I should have asked.”
Despite the challenges, the show has been “going well,” says Paterson, who found the first live performance overwhelming but was spurred on by her professional co-stars. “I had impostor syndrome at the start because these people have done Broadway, but now that I’ve settled I’m actually doing alright. My nerves were very bad at the start and they were saying ‘you just need to go on stage, just do it.’ And since I did that in the first show I’ve been absolutely fine.”
Beyond the Edinburgh Fringe
Paterson hopes to use the Edinburgh Fringe show as a launching pad for other paid work, and has a Christmas pantomime in her sights. She’s also like to get as far away from the “sad” image as possible and would particularly like to explore TV. “Although this is great, I’m going to branch off immediately after this as myself,” she says. “I know I’m always gonna be known for that, but I’m making the right connections, I’m getting the right management in place to for me to actually do real work as myself. Because I can do it, I’m talented enough.
“Obviously if this show goes further that’s one of my priorities. It’s only been five months and I’ve gone from a normal girl in Glasgow to this. I’m taking each day as it comes.”
She’s learned she needs to get more professional vocal training and she’s “willing” to head back to the classroom to better her skills. She’s “putting the work in” already for a world beyond the show, a world where she hopes she can show off her true personality. In terms of the sad image, Paterson says: “I’m actually the complete opposite. I’m quite a bubbly, uplifting person. People find it strange.”
Casting her mind back to the rip-off immersive event in Glasgow, Paterson believes that “it’s gonna keep on happening.” She calls the man behind the event a “con artist” and wants nothing more to do with him, and says she’s still only been paid £200 of the £500 she was owed for the job.
But after meeting a guy in Los Angeles during rehearsals for the Fringe show, Paterson hopes to work towards a new life away from the image of her cloaked in orange fake tan and dressed as a chocolate helper. “Let’s see what happens,” she says confidently. “I think I’m already doing quite well.”
Willy’s Candy Spectacular runs until 26 August at Pleasance Dome
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