Enrico Prampolini at La Scala
by Vittoria Crespi Morbio
Essay by Vittoria Crespi Morbio, The Futurist Mandarin
Appendices: biography; catalogue of works; chronology of performances
Teatro alla Scala, Milano 2021
Amici della Scala – Grafiche Step Editrice, Parma 2021
Italian – English edition, pp. 272
A revolutionary spirit and enemy of the academies, Enrico Prampolini (1894-1957) was perhaps the fiercest intellect among the Italian Futurist painters, and was doubtlessly the one most open to seeking out and establishing dialogue with European avantgarde movements.
To him, theatrical set design was not a fallback area of secondary activity but the very heart of tenacious, unlimited theoretical reflection: theatre of pure energy, light and colour – unrestrained by narrative content and even free from the physical encumbrance of actors – was his utopia.
He would attempt many times to put this into practice on the stages of Rome, Prague and Paris.
His big break came in 1942 with a debut at La Scala with The Miraculous Mandarin by Béla Bartók, brought to the stage by Aurel Milloss. In a compromise of rare balance between Expressionism and Futurism, between theoretical intransigence and concreteness in practice, Prampolini accomplished his theatrical masterpiece.