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- By Katy Scott
- BBC Scotland News
Felicia played The Unknown in her first job as a paid actress.
A teenage actress who played a featured role in a canceled Willy Wonka-inspired event in Glasgow said she was shocked by the response to her creepy character.
A video, which has had millions of views, shows the mysterious figure appearing from behind a mirror to crying children.
But now The Unknown has been unmasked as Felicia, 16, from Glasgow.
And she’s delighted that her first paid acting job has gone viral.
The villain caused confusion around the world, as The Unknown was noticeably absent from the plot of Roald Dahl’s classic children’s book, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
Felicia told BBC Scotland News: “It was so ridiculous it was actually funny.”
In the lead-up to last month’s event, organizers House of Illuminati announced a “journey filled with wonderful creations.”
Willy Wonka was a fictional chocolatier who organized a contest for the lucky ones who got a golden ticket to visit his factory.
But visitors hoping to relive the classic book and movies, including the 1971 original starring Gene Wilder, were bitterly disappointed when they arrived at a sparsely decorated warehouse.
The event was held last weekend on an industrial estate in Whiteinch, where actors tried to make the best of some sad-looking props and a small bouncy castle.
The children were offered a half cup of lemonade and a small serving of jelly beans on their trip to the imaginary candy factory.
The parents paid up to £35 fine, but were so shocked they called Police Scotland.
Within hours, the event was abruptly cancelled, leaving some families unable to enter.
According to the script, which is said to be the result of artificial intelligence, The Unknown was an evil rival chocolate maker who lives within walls.
The Glasgow event featured a character called “The Stranger” who is absent from the traditional Willy Wonka plot.
The story is about his attempt to steal Willy’s “Anti-Graffiti Gobstopper”.
Felicia was originally cast in the lead role of Willy McDuff, apparently inspired by Willy Wonka, before opting for The Unknown.
Last week, a video of the villain, dressed in a silver mask and a black cape, emerging from behind a mirror to see unhappy children spread on social media.
The teenager said: “There were no rehearsals. I came early to practice but I wasn’t prepared.”
“The actors came later and I wasn’t ready yet.
“We all said it was a disaster and that there had been no organization, but we just hoped that together it wouldn’t be so bad. But it was.”
The actors were asked to improvise that day, so Felicia waited behind the mirror for each of the three Willy McDuff characters to walk by with their group.
She said: “My character didn’t make any sense without Wonka explaining who I was, that I was The Stranger, an evil chocolate maker who lives in the walls.
“So I was sitting behind the mirror trying to act creepy because that was the only direction they had given me.
“It was definitely a mix of reactions. Some people loved it, others were terrified.
“But I think most people didn’t really know what they were there for, and it was the same for me.”
“It was going so bad”
Felicia said her concerns about the performance intensified just 45 minutes after the doors opened.
She remembers: “The first tests worked quite well because there was order.
“But people were falling behind and everything started to go wrong.
“In the room next to the mirror, one of the Wonkas had been there for like an hour straight and hadn’t left and the other two Wonkas had just disappeared.
“During that time, more people came and things grew and grew.
“I was sitting behind the mirror texting my mom telling her everything was going very wrong.”
Felicia said each Wonka led a group of about 60 people and they often couldn’t all fit in one room.
He added: “One of the other Wonkas made up a story that if the kids made a silly face at me, I would get scared and hide in my corner.
“That worked really well and would make sense in the plot.
“But that didn’t always happen, so sometimes I had to walk awkwardly back to my corner.”
Felicia checking her lines before the doors opened to the public
Felicia revealed that she still has the costume from the event and said it was “pretty funny” that people had been asking for it.
After the experience was wrapped up, the actors went to the pub for a debrief.
She remembers: “When we came back, there was a big crowd outside.
“There were like four police cars outside. It was really crazy.”
But despite the backlash, Felicia said the response had been generally positive.
She added: “At first I felt really embarrassed about it. But when we went to the pub afterwards we just laughed about it.
“It was so ridiculous it was actually funny.
“And now it’s gone viral, it really changes my life and I’m so happy I did it.
“Everyone loves the character and posts about him, so it makes me happy that people can see the funny side.”