Metaphorical mishmash from N.Y.'s Circle Rep

Dysan Play by Patrick Meyers. Directed by B. Rodney Marriott.

Admirers of the tautly dramatic ``K-2'' might find it difficult to believe that the same author is responsible for ``Dysan,'' the confusing metaphorical mishmash now being presented by the Circle Repertory Company.

According to press department intelligence, the play deals with a battle ``fought transcendentally over an ideal woman.'' Mr. Meyers's image of the ideal woman is, to say the least, tarnished.

The playwright sets the action in 1987, by which time he foresees that Hollywood gurus will have gone totally berserk and spaced-out earthlings will be planning trips to outer space. In a northern California beach house, Jake, Eddie, and Dysan (Jimmie Ray Weeks, Daton Stone, and Katherine Cortez) engage in variants of the eternal -- or is it infernal? -- triangle.

As if in imitation of various dramatic styles, and at times with apparently ironic intent, the writing combines strained symbolism, fashionable crudities, and literary junk food.

From trendy references such as ``I was on Donahue last week'' to cave-men intrusions, ``Dysan'' plays cosmic hopscotch across the millennia. Christopher Barreca's tricky setting and Dennis Parichy's star-spangled lighting are triumphs of technical bravura over content. The acting by a cast that includes Charles T. Harper's sinister Spider is dauntless. The experience is numbing.