Nostalgia: Back to where it all began as Funbox comes to Fife

Rising from the ashes of the legendary Singing Kettle the trio of Anya Scott-Rodgers, Gary Coupland and Kevin Macleod decided to keep working together and kicked off their very first tour at the Adam Smith Theatre in 2015, the same venue where they will launch their new tour ‘Jungle Party’ on April 4, as well as celebrating their fifth anniversary.

Anya said: “Our first tour, Pirates and Princesses, kicked off at the Adam Smith Theatre five years ago, so that’s where it all started for us really.

“I’m absolutely delighted to be coming back there to start the new tour.”

Anya explained that it has taken a lot of hard work in the first five years as Funbox.

“The first two years we were really establishing ourselves so we managed to muddle through that, but here we still are and we’re going to carry on doing what we’re doing.

“When the Singing Kettle finished we all decided that we wanted to carry on working together. So we picked ourselves up, dusted ourselves off and thought, ‘right, let’s do this!’.

“We just went into it head first. One of my favourite sayings is ‘it’s a learning curve’ – I’ve been saying that for five years now!

“We were all fine with the performing side of it but none of us had run a business before.

“Monday to Friday that’s what we do now and come the weekend we can go out and enjoy ourselves as Funbox.

“We’re getting there and we’ve managed to keep going.”

After a lot of hard work Anya says she feels that Funbox has become established in it own right.

“I think we are now.

“Funbox has a slightly different edge to it than the Singing Kettle did.

“It’s a bit more madcap and we make sure there are a few jokes for the adults that will go over the kids heads, because at the end of the day they are the ones paying for the tickets and sitting in a theatre for an hour and a half so it would be wrong for us to discount them.

“We want everyone there to have a nice time.”

And Anya hopes that Jungle Party will provide such entertainment.

“There are lots of jungle animals and Bonzo the dog is back as well in a smart Hawaiian shirt!

“There’ll be all the usual surprises and nonsense that comes with a Funbox show, including lots of audience interaction.”

Ahead of the Kirkcaldy show Anya said she wants to thank Lang Touners their support.

“The ticket sales are going really well there. It’s been a few years since we last played Kirkcaldy so we were a bit nervous in case our audience had disappeared or moved on to something else, but it seems like they’re all still there and are coming out to see us.”