Zeffirelli's collaboration with Visconti began in the autumn of 1946: for five years, Zeffirelli worked for Visconti as an assistant and set designer, both in theatre and film. By the autumn of 1951, he considered himself ready to make his debut with a production entirely of his own. "Lulù", a play written in 1903 and now almost forgotten, was still considered an interesting text in the 1950s and offered a very seductive role for a leading actress. Zeffirelli secured the collaboration of Vivi Gioi, whom he knew well because she had played Celia in "Rosalinda" and Stella in the first production of "A Streetcar Named Desire", and of the young costume designer Piero Tosi, a close friend whom he had just persuaded to move to Rome to try his hand at the world of theatre.
The result was unsatisfactory, and the production was soon forgotten. A few sketches for the costumes by Piero Tosi are preserved in the Archives.
It may be interesting to note that the following theatre season, "Lulù" was staged at the Piccolo Teatro in Milan, directed by Giorgio Strehler, with Lilla Brignone in the lead, and it enjoyed some success, likely boosted by the fact that Carlo Bertolazzi was a Milanese playwright deeply connected to his city. Additionally, in 1953, a film version was made by Fernando Cerchio, with Valentina Cortese in the lead, an actress who would later become Zeffirelli's favored interpreter.