'Bubble Show' is a fantastical, transformative journey

Enrico Pezzoli says there’s a little bit of “Mr. B” in all of us.

The lead character in his “B – The Underwater Bubble Show” is a creature of modern habits who “always feels pressed by a thousand things to do in a world that seems to be moving too fast.”

When the office worker – played by an actor and mime – discovers a little aquarium that appears like magic inside his briefcase, he discovers a wondrous underwater world of Bubblelandia filled with seahorses, dragon fish, starfish and mermaids.

“His transformation is a journey which each of us could take,” he says, if only people would take the time to sit, relax and simply daydream.

Taking soap bubbles to new heights

Pezzoli, who is from Latvia in northeastern Europe, is the director of “The Underwater Bubble Show,” a multimedia stage show that takes simple soap bubbles to new heights.

Westmoreland Cultural Trust is bringing the show currently touring North America to The Palace Theatre for one performance at 7 p.m. Feb. 13.

Dace Pecoli is a bubble artist and co-creator of the show with her husband, Enrico. The couple has toured the world as a duo act for nearly 20 years working with the art form, including a performance at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.

“I have directed other big performances in the past, but ‘B’ is our first independent big production,” Pezzoli says.

Latest in stage technology

The show incorporates the latest in stage technology, featuring lasers, theatrical fog, low ground smoke, soap bubble machines and flying foam that simulate waves and an underwater atmosphere. Performers include a juggler, contortionist, dancers, acrobats and the bubble artists.

Pecoli says they are constantly working to perfect the production, “but it is a never ending story because we as alchemists in the past are always looking for the golden formula of bubble solution and bubble conditions to make the best show possible.”

Her wish is “that bubbles could never explode and last for at least one hour. I think this could be my challenge to make it come true.”

She thinks that families will like that the show is very colorful, dynamic and surprising with a lot of high-quality circus acts. “There is something for everyone,” she says, “but most important I think is the atmosphere which we create with this show that brings joy of life.”

The couple’s Bubblelandia production took two years to create and debuted in October 2011 with a pair of shows in Italy that drew more than 5,000 spectators. It has since toured theaters across Switzerland, Kaliningrad, Indonesia, Russia and Lebanon. A new version made its UK and UAE debut in 2015 and in 2016 the show toured the U.S. for the first time.

Their plans this year are for the current show to travel to Canada, China, Algeria, Singapore, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Greece.

“Our main goal was to produce a show that could tour the world without any barriers, especially language,” says Pezzoli. “We involved many elements of theater that could work without speech, like mime, puppets, physical comedy and sand painting, while adding visual special effects.”

Candy Williams is a Tribune-Review
contributing writer.