Take a dive into the world of Funbox
Kevin Macleod gets to spend his working days acting like a big kid. One of the creative members of Funbox, he spends his days thinking up silly songs and stories, when he isn’t on stage that is.
Kevin, along with , is touring around Scotland taking families for a dip under the deep blue sea. The trio of former Singing Kettle stars have been touring the length and breadth of Scotland since 2015.
Aided by Bonzo the dog, the group will be making a splash in Kevin’s home town of Aberdeen this weekend with their latest show, Underwater Adventure.
“We are usually in Aberdeen twice a year, including with a Christmas-time panto,” said Kevin.
“It is nice to come to Aberdeen, and HMT was the place of my first adventure into the theatrical world. We went there to see panto on a school trip and I was overwhelmed by the theatre with all of the brass fittings.”
Voyage under the waves to the bottom of the ocean for a singa-long tail. The Funbox is locked and Anya, Gary and Kevin need some help to dig up their magical keys from the seabed. Join Bonzo for some aquatic action, but make sure you take your swim suit!
Packed with familiar favourites as well as brand-new songs, Underwater Adventure is the perfect swim-along singa-long treat for kids of all ages – from nought to ninety.
Funbox target themselves towards families, not just children, so that everyone can enjoy a trip to see one of their shows. Kevin explained: “Adults who come along are expected to join in and be crazy and silly and have fun and a good-old Scottish sing-along.
“Big people get involved and can dress up as a mermaid or a deep sea diver. We did a show which was an excuse to dress up as a superhero.”
Every tour Funbox put together is different and the team are currently working on six different shows for the next year.
“We keep all the shows different,” said Kevin.
“But we have to keep the familiarity of the sing-along too. We play around with well-known songs and give them a different Funbox twist and give some a more modern makeover, but you still feel as if you know it.
“Years ago, I went to a carol service in Fife where they tried to make their own Christmas hymn. It was an absolute car crash.
“We take a tune, like from an old traditional song, and change the words by giving it a Funbox makeover.”
With so many shows in the planning stages at one time, Funbox have to be very organised. Even though it is only August, they are in talks and discussing shows for next year. Once a show has been put together, it gets filmed months before the tour begins so that the audience can go home with a DVD of their favourite show and watch it again and again.
“A lot of venues like to have an image and blurb for their brochures so we have to make sure we have enough time to work to venue deadlines before the next hurdle,” said Kevin.
Father to twin grown-up daughters, Kevin has used his children for inspiration and to practise material on. While some songs and costumes worked on the girls, other times, their dad was a source of embarrassment.
“They were always very proud and stuck up for their daft dad, even when I turned up to a school play dressed as a fairy,” said Kevin.
“I would see what their reactions to things would be or listen to the songs they came back from school with.
“I was recently with an old friend who has a three-year-old grandson. He was digging around his nose as if for buried treasure, so I have been writing a song about bogies. It is absurd, but I am quite pleased with it.”
Even though he plays the big kid every day, Kevin originally trained to be a stage manager.
“I would always sneak on stage,” he said.
“Even when I was in Repertoire Theatre, I was on stage and often played the bad henchman turned good.
“I will always think as a stage manager, but I probably wouldn’t have expected to be in the job I am in today. It is a job that fits.
“Funbox started because we wanted to keep doing this job and the three of us enjoyed doing it.”
The fun trio and Bonzo will be in Inverness at Eden Court on September 30 and October 1. See www.funbox.co.uk/show/underwater-adventure
