Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Kasia Lech.

The problem with revolutions is that in the chance that they succeed, they will inevitably begin the process of being just a ravenous monster as the regime they swept away in bullets, bombs and prayers. Revolution of any type is fraught with the uncertainty of bread today, jam tomorrow, the mouldy crust the day after that, revolution is weighed down with expectation that cannot be fulfilled but it is nevertheless a state of political ultimatum that should never be ignored.

For many in the east of Europe the carving up of the continent after World War Two was a step in a direction of denial, of deprivation, the systematic starvation of happiness for many people, the annexation of countries like Poland, proud and industrious, by the Nazis was only compounded by the inherent wrongs in Communism, a system that was not explained properly to those who won the October Revolution.

For some, mutiny came in the shape of the small packages that found its way from the supposed decadent enemy, the first sniff of those things the people of the west were taking for granted…revolts start over the simplest of things and the Bubble Revolution was one that was going to come a cropper eventually, but whilst it lasted was going to be as sweet tasting as it could be.

Kasia Lech’s performance in Julia Holewinska’s play was nothing short of delightful, the bitter sweet memories of childhood behind the Iron Curtain, the first taste of something new, the experience of bubblegum that wasn’t produced in a factory somewhere in Minsk, being lovingly portrayed as the ultimate expression of joy, the founding of new ideas as the Berlin Wall came tearing down one day and the final shaking off of Moscow’s rules, somehow absorbing and the feel of excitement transferring itself to the audience’s minds.

All revolutions bring around something worse that what the people got rid off and as commercialism and capitalism have woven their tentacles into the fabric of society in the east, so to do the dangers of unemployment and being left behind also come along for the ride, it is something that the east perhaps wasn’t ready for.

Bubble Revolution is a wonderfully written monologue that is engaging and full of memories, a play that conjures images of just what is the problem with the world when it has only one ideology to pursue. Pleasing and leaves a lot to chew over in the mind of the audience.

Ian D. Hall