An essential reclamation of feminist Italian patriotism, performed by an accomplished storyteller
Siliva Manazzone makes it very clear we are all too ignorant about two things: The history of the three wars leading up to the reunification of Italy in the 19th century, and the existence of female patriot Giuseppa Bolognara Calcagno (AKA Peppa) and her role within it.
Taking a fourth-wall breaking approach to proceedings, it is less about the woman individually and more about the retelling of a country’s creation from her perspective. Addressing the audience by picking up the show’s own flyer, Calcagno, an orphan from Sicily points out history has apparently remembered her facial features but not her birth year. She stingingly remarks that noted Italian General Giuseppe Garibaldi’s weak chin is not mentioned in the history books but at least everyone knows when he was born.
Through a dizzying array of physicality, accents, time travel and direct audience address, we learn of her involvement with her young lover Vanni, and the influence he had on her decision to join the rebellion against the Borboni soldiers, whose Spanish monarchy had run Sicily for far too long. The quest to decide whether or not fight back to become not just Sicilian, but Italian- an identity not yet established- is a core theme of the piece.
It is testament to Manazzone’s skills as a performer that we are able to clearly understand Calcagno’s motives- she is fleshed out into a full character whose arc is realized over the sixty minutes. There is precious little written about her, but we understand she is quite a proud woman, whose dominance and confidence has manifested as a result of abandonment and being an unmarried, childless older woman. We understand the context of the sexism at play, at the societal expectation of Calcagno which she refuses to adhere to in order to be an equal among her peers. This is a fundamental reason she chooses to join the Sicilian military resistance and drag that infamous cannon across the piazza in Catania and trick the Borboni soldier into surrendering.
Perhaps uniquely here, Italian gesticulation is suited to clowning and pantomime such that exaggeration does not feel out of place or inappropriate as a form of expression. There is, however, too much ground covered for one person. Whilst the female perspective is a great angle to tackle the Unification’s struggle, there are too many characters for Manazzone to juggle; going so far as to rope in audience members to read out chunks of historical texts or fill in for her lover Vanni (with some genuine comedic effect). At times we also get bogged down in historical exposition where it is clear there is no other way to express events other than to read it out from a book. Occasionally the humour fails to land amongst the historical lecturing, with angry drunken characterisation feeling like a lazy way to demonstrate clowning as Manazzone constantly falls over the three bits of furniture allocated to her set.
Nevertheless, Silvia Manazzone is a quintessential bard in every sense of the word. An excellent storyteller; a capable physical performer who’s ability to contort into different characters with clear definition and fantastic diction allows the audience to understand a time period in which we have never experienced. With some script finesses to reduce didactic lecturing, perhaps one or two fewer characters in the mix to streamline the story’s arc, this will be a fantastic addition to the important retelling of Italian patriotism from a feminist angle.
The Cannoneer played at Barons Court Theatre, London from 13th-17th October 2026.