After a two-hour performance of the world premier of "Lou," his new one-actress play, a noisy hour of congratulations, and a few glasses of champagne, the Australian playwright hushed the crowd to make a toast.


"When I wrote this play," David George said in well-prepared Russian, "I knew I had to find an actress with the heart, mind and soul to play it. I knew I needed a Russian actress."


With the help of David Smelyansky's Russian State Theater Agency, the actress that George found was Yelena Koreneva, a former Soviet film star who spent 10 years in the United States and is now working to revive her career at home. Viewers last saw her this spring in "The Car in Flesh."


"Lou" is an incomparably better work, and once this still raw production picks up some steam, it may well provide the showcase Koreneva has been seeking.


George's play is almost certain to bring him international recognition. It is feminist without being doctrinaire; it is intellectual without being pretentious; and it teases on sexual topics without the vaguest hint of vulgarity. The playwright chose a fascinating heroine and wrote an intriguing monologue that lets her speak out at various points in her life, from her youth to her last minute before death.


At times, such as when Lou visits Leo Tolstoy, the play descends into name-dropping and fact-listing, but more often it is concerned with revealing a unique personality.


Lou Andreas-Salom? was an intelligent, fiercely independent woman who had a knack for shocking society and capturing the hearts of great men. Born in Russia in 1861, she moved to Europe 20 years later, beginning a long line of amorous conquests, the most celebrated of which were Friedrich Nietzsche and Rainer Maria Rilke. Her long friendship with Sigmund Freud, at the end of her life -- Lou herself was a practicing psychiatrist and a much-published author -- produced a copious correspondence and influenced Freud's theories of sexuality.


Koreneva, whose sublimely lyrical film persona was endearing for her uncanny ability to slip into silliness in just the right proportion, usually handled her complex heroine well. The actress has matured, become wiser and more cautious in a way that suits her. That helped her create her finest moments at last Friday's premier: the scenes devoted to Lou's old age.


As directed by Yevgeny Kamenkovich, the production is attractive, if static. It is well served by Pyotr Gladilin's set, which consists primarily of books stacked on the floor and a white European "skyline" on the back wall; and Sergei Skornetsky's excellent lighting, which casts shadows that separate or merge with the actress at key moments.


The biggest problem on opening night was a lack of momentum. The choppy scenes -- the playwright's way of creating dramatic movement -- never came together into a unified whole. At times visibly struggling with the volume of text, Koreneva seldom got inside her character, settling instead for creating an effective facade. Nevertheless, Koreneva is a charismatic, talented actress, and her performance in "Lou" is ultimately satisfying.


According to George, there are plans to take an English-language version of "Lou" to the United States.





"Lou," a production of the Culture Ministry of the Russian Federation, the Russian State Theater Agency and the Australia Council for the Arts, with the participation of the Soyuz Theater, plays Dec. 9 to 11 at 7 P.M. on the small stage of the Taganka Theater, Taganskaya Ploshchad. Tel. 272-6300 or 928-4038. Running time, two hours (three acts).