As you walk into Phil Kay’s show “Gimme Your Left Shoe” there is a feeling that the show has already started as there is a palpable sense of chaos in the tent. Phil is charging about, encouraging all the kids to put their left shoes into a big box and there are toys and objects scattered around the stage area. When everyone is settled Phil explains the show.
In turn all the children will get on stage and do something to entertain the audience, which will win their left shoe back. My friend suggested that this show could be mistaken for a hostage situation… But the fact that Phil is Scottish makes this show remind me of parties my mum went to as a child in Scotland. It was tradition there for everyone to ‘do a turn’, which meant sing a song or tell a story or poem or stand on your head. Phil was great at knowing how to encourage the children to do things and how to keep order of the proceedings, making sure things never get too far out of hand. If the kids couldn’t think of something he would give them a simple task, like catching toy duck with a net or riding the skateboard across the stage, he even play-acted a scene in a café and an older girl playing the waiter took his order and served him coffee. There was lots of cheering for all the children’s tasks and Phil kept things funny and entertaining turning tiny, even seemingly mundane tasks into moments of merriment and even crowning glory.
He reminds me of a cross between Billy Connolly and Frank Woodley, a true children’s clown without need for scary make-up big shoes or bad wigs. He also made sure there was applause for children who helped one another or those that thought to clean up after themselves. The hard part was to get through all the children in time, but he had some quick tasks for multiple children up his sleeve towards the end. If you have kids take them to this and you will enjoy Phil Kay’s wild, manic, playful improvising as much as they. One warning, its chilly in that Umbrella Revolution tent. Wear a warm coat!!
For booking details go to Phil Kay – Gimme Your Left Shoe