Written by Scott Gilmour and Claire McKenzie

Directed by Andrew Panton

Review by Dominic Corr

Tickets from £15.00

Right from the start, the entire show has a stamp of authenticity. Before a word is said, before a song is sung, or a foot is set towards the audience, Kenneth MacLeod’s colour and set makes the audience long for an ‘Iron Brew’ Chew (perfection) or a Black Jack (vile).

But for as nostalgic as the Dundee Rep and Noisemaker’s Oor Wullie is, it’s a piece revived for a Scotland of the now – its cheeky grin and bold voice the perfect finger in the eye to the rising tide of closed-mindedness and inward concerns. Oor Wullie achieves all it must, and more, within the opening moments. The rest is just pure dead brilliant. The entire audience, Dundonian or from further afield, feel at home the moment the opening number brings us into hurtling into Dundee city centre, a stop-over in Auchenshoogle on the cards.

But that’s not so much the case for RoMaya Jey’s Nilo, a thoroughly modern hero, pressured into spending Christmas with their father, Daniyal (a suitably ‘dadish’ humour from story consultant Taqi Nazeer), who helps run her mother’s clothing boutique in Dundee. For her, this isn’t home anymore. Encountering a rather peculiar, though no less friendly, illustrator on the train back North, Nilo lets their teen angst get the better of them and loses sight of the importance of family and the value of tradition but also carves a path for others to see that the world moves on for a very contemporary take of friendship and compassion, as the Oor Wullie annual gifted to Nilo by the mysterious woman, Ann Louise Ross joining in on things to play havoc on what was going to be a quiet Christmas.   

Rejigged for audiences, Andrew Panton’s production lifts the rafters for the original 2019 show, following the central bones of the tale as Wullie searches for their missing bucket pals old and new, but offers a definite breath of freshness in its use of colour, movement, and some additional plot elements to flesh out the tale. Panton, along with Kenneth MacLeod’s design and the tight work from Chi San Howard’s movement and choreography, captures the elasticity and rubber-faced comedy of the original comic strip – energy is seemingly limitless for Kyle Gardiner as the titular Wullie: a performance which perfectly encapsulates the appeal of the spikey haired lad, speaking across generations with a timeless expression and respect for the role – connecting to the entire audience with ease, balancing naivety of this new ‘real’ world with the amazement a young boy would have.

The gang is all here to support Gardiner and keep the laughter rolling thanks to a determined Beth Robb Adam’s Primrose, Grant McIntyre’s Wee Eck (who nabs some of the best lines), Bailey Newsome’s playing it cool Soapy, and Elliot McLean, who gives plenty of spirit and humour to Boab – playing right into the crowd for some of the biggest laughs of the night, rivalled only by Scottish theatre legend Anthony Strachan who takes a role so often on the short end of the truncheon, PC Murdoch, and turns the puddin’ into a full-on feast of laughter and amusement – bouncing away to Shonagh Murray’s musical direction with the best song of the night.

It’s not easy being the biggest, baddest, brashest of Bashers in a show full of so many bold characters who have such fond places in the crowds’ hearts and memories. And yet here they are, Mairi Barclay, crashing late into the show as our principal antagonist and absolutely holding the show by the cola cubes and making it their own. Vocally on the mark, carrying impressive range, and selling every bit of physical humour with energy, Barclay might be at their best when bad, but they deliver nothing but the best for the audience.

Building on the story set out before them, one building for nearly ninety years, Panton’s Oor Wullie reintroduces one of Scotland’s most iconic characters to new theatregoers with song and excitement while reaffirming and touching those who have never missed an annual. Demonstrating some tremendous talent, with a belter of a voice and a colourful palette to make any tuck shop blush, this production is made for families, blood or otherwise. And help ma boab; you might find a few new members in the Dundee Rep theatre space.

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