“[Takes] one of our childhood favourites and [dials] the absurdity up to 11”
This is part of a series of shorter reviews from Edinburgh Fringe, August 2026.
A sequel to Roald Dahl’s “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”, ‘Waiting for Wonka’ imagines the children of the novel all grown up, and continuing to be held hostage in Wonka’s factory. That is, until Wonka’s apprentice Charlie decides to evict them – with a catch. The one who proves most popular in an online poll will be allowed to stay.
Suddenly the four traumatised adults are pitted against each other – Augustus (Caden Scott) squeezes into his lederhosen to try to reclaim his childhood cuteness, whilst Violet (Alex Medland) decides to play up to the perverts obsessed with her “blueberryfication”. It is Veruca (Airlie Duff) who has the best tactic however – a sob story about her father, delivered in the fashion of a pre-audition X Factor contestant.
It is all very funny (a comedy slapstick sequence is a superb demonstration of precise choreography), but there are serious themes about growing up and shared trauma thrown in here for good measure. Under the direction of Courtney Bassett, the relationships blossoming between the characters are simply joyous – although there is an odd x-rated sequence featuring Violet and Veruca that seems to come out of the blue.
Chris Veteri’s Mike is perhaps the most loveable character here, despite innocently winding up Veruca throughout, whilst it is a shame we are not treated to more from Rory Drinnan-Murray’s Charlie, who takes centre stage as the play reaches its conclusion. The final scene doesn’t give as satisfying an ending as one might hope, and will probably leave you with more questions than answers, but in true Fringe style, this show does an excellent job of taking one of our favourite childhood stories and dialling the absurdity up to 11.
Tom Morley, August 2026
“Waiting for Wonka” plays at 11:40am at Dram at Gilded Balloon Patter House until 16th August.
This review was written whilst the show was still in previews.
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