The organisers of a Willy Wonka-themed club night at Ballare on Tuesday caused controversy with their decision to employ actors suffering from dwarfism as part of the evening’s entertainment.

The actors were hired to dress up as the Oompa Loompa characters featured in the film Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and to stand outside the nightclub handing out free chocolates and having their photographs taken with partygoers.

Some clubbers, however, expressed discomfort with the situation, suggesting that dressing adult men up in funny costumes made light of a serious medical condition by turning it into a side-show novelty entertainment for a night out.

Some guests entering the nightclub were extremely entertained by the welcome they received and happily had their photographs taken, exclaiming loudly about how “cute” the employees were.

Others appeared uncertain about how best to react, and shuffled inside as quickly as possible.

A bouncer working at Ballare on the evening in question pointed out that all the club’s employees are paid for their work, and that the men could of course have chosen to decline the offer of work.

The night is run by Big Fish Ents as part of the Jelly Baby club night franchise. The managing director of the company, Simon Burdus, defended his actions.

“The night was based on Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory. They had dwarves in the films, so in trying to recreate the theme as best as possible we hired them. If I hadn’t used small actors I could have been accused of being size-ist.”

He also reported that the main actor, Raymond Griffiths, called the event “one of the best night I have done in a long time.”
CUSU President Mark Fletcher said, “I wouldn’t expect anything less from Big Fish Ents”.

In response to Fletcher’s comment, Burdus said, “As far as CUSU go, they should focus on their own nights which aren’t doing too well and I physically couldn’t care any less about what they say.”

By Amber Medland