‘Angry families turned up to find me dressed as Willy Wonka’

An actor who played Willy Wonka at a cancelled event in Glasgow says he understands why families were angry about the experience.

Paul Connell said he was given the role just days earlier and handed a “gibberish” script and told to “do whatever you want”.

Police were called to the event on Saturday, which was cancelled when visitors demanded refunds of tickets that cost up to £35.

Organisers House of Illuminati advertised a “journey filled with wondrous creations” in what turned out to be a sparsely-decorated warehouse.

Mr Connell told BBC Radio’s Good Morning Scotland programme: “It was very disappointing to see how many people turned up at this event and found basically me dressed up as Willy Wonka in a half-abandoned warehouse.

“It was not what I was expecting.

“I was offered the part on the Thursday, given 15 pages of AI generated gibberish to learn and then obviously turned up and saw what it was.”

The event was held at Box Hub in Whiteinch, Glasgow.

The venue was not responsible for the event, it only hired out the space.

Glasgow City Council said its Trading Standards department had received one complaint about the event.

Mr Connell said he and other actors were unsure if they would be paid, but still wanted to provide the best experience for the children.

He added: “The actors were furious, we’d been conned as well and it did turn quite scary at one point because people were angry.

“There was lots of shouting and groups of people getting very, very irate.”

Mr Connell said despite the circumstances, the performers received good feedback online for trying their best to “make the best out of a bad situation”.

He said he spoke to the organisers during the event, but had not been in contact with them since.

“I asked them what they wanted me to do as a performer and they just kept saying, ‘do whatever you want’.

“Every conversation I had with them was them running around very stressed, very panicked throughout the day.”

House of Illuminati, said in a post on Facebook it was “truly sorry” and had been let down in “many areas” and tried their best to continue.

It said it would be giving a full refund to anyone who bought a ticket.

It added in a later post: “This was an event gone wrong.

“The House of Illuminati will not be holding any other event in the foreseeable future.”