Iconic comic hero Oor Wullie is being brought to life once again at Dundee Rep.
Oor Wullie The Musical returns to Wullie’s birthplace for a second run of the show, which was first produced just before lockdown.
And Kyle Gardiner, making his debut performance as Wullie, is “buzzing” about playing his dad’s favourite comic character.
“It’s iconic, I grew up reading the comics and annuals in my gran’s hoose,” Kyle says.
“The dead lovely thing about it is my dad would’ve grown up reading the comics in the same house, so that was the dead exciting, lovely part of it.
“When I told him I was playing Oor Wullie he was buzzing, so happy. He was like: ‘Kyle that’s my favourite character!’ So like, no pressure or anything.
“When I got the part I bought some new annuals and some old ones, some classics, properly trying to take it over the years and try to build the basics of the character.
“So I did all that, but it was really just an excuse to read them all over again to be honest.”
Classic comic characters ‘updated’ for modern Scotland
This time around, the plot revolves around Wullie’s lost bucket, with local landmarks Dundee Station, Bell Street Police Station (starring PC Murdoch of course) and Baldovie Recycling Centre.
The show’s director Andrew Panton said while all the famous characters are there, the production team was anxious to update the show with a couple of new additions, to reflect the modern day diversity of Scotland through their adaptation of the classic comic strip.
And while Wullie is still a lovable scamp, ably assisted by his mates Soapy, Wee Eck and the (now sans adjective) Boab to reflect modern times, portrayed this time round by Elliot McLean, new characters also include Milo, played by RoMaya Jey and Daniyal played by Taqi Nazeer.
Basher again is a female character, played by Mairi Barclay.
‘Some of the best songs’ on stage this Christmas
Andrew says: “We first started devising the show and actually produced it on the stage here in 2019, it was one of the last things on the stage just before lockdown.
“We always knew we wanted to bring it back.
“It’s a big responsibility, because everyone’s got expectations of, you know, what’s Wullie going to look like, how’s he going to talk, how he’s going to behave because of course we’ve only seen him in the strip before.
“We were really conscious of wanting to make sure we represent all the famous characters from the strip but also introduce a couple of new characters that maybe represent Scottish culture and where we’re at in terms of the diversity of our cultures a bit more.”
Andrew added: “I’m really pleased it’s such a great show, it’s got real heart, it’s got a message, but it’s also very very funny, loads of gags, loads of physical comedy and some of the best songs you’re going to hear on Scottish stages this Christmas.”
Oor Wullie is at Dundee Rep from Saturday November 23 to Monday December 30 2024.
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