adapted from the novel La vita prodigiosa di Isidoro Sifflotin (Feltrinelli editore, 2015)
directionPau Miró
actor Enrico Ianniello
draw luci Luís Serra
costum Ortensia di Francesco
custom assistant Federica Del Gaudio
video Jordi Homs
production Casa del Contemporaneo Napoli, Teatre Akadémia Barcelona, La Fanfola Barcelona

Based on the novel La vita prodigiosa di Isidoro Sifflotin, Enrico Ianniello performs—in a play of overlapping memories—as Isidoro, the son of Quirino Raggiola and Stella Dimare, a child with a very special gift: the ability to communicate through a unique language. From the day of his birth, the child amazes everyone: he does not cry but emits a whistle, more precisely a "scream-whistle," produced by the vibration of his vocal cords rather than the breath of air. This ability makes him an attraction and—together with his tender father—they create a "whistle-bulary" necessary to teach a new language to the downtrodden and to defend themselves against a bullying world that seeks to offend them. Nurtured by the pastries of his mother, Stella di Mare, Isidoro travels through village fairs and meets an anthropologist from France who gives the little phenomenon the name Sifflotin. With irony and tenderness, Ianniello masterfully enters the small world of the child who, through the sound of whistles, was able to give life to a free and light humanity, without the fear of the "different." Unfortunately, the terrible Irpinia earthquake of November 23, 1980, brings Isidoro's childhood and his unique voice to a definitive end.