THE COWELL Theater's apparent policy of community access has proven a mixed blessing in the few years the Fort Mason facility has been open. On the one hand, it's provided some surprisingly off-beat delights along with the more standard fare one expects at a mid-size theater. On the other, it's given the venue more than its share of disasters.

Nothing ever presented at the Cowell, however, could be more out of the ordinary, or more esoterically ambitious, than the show that opened Friday: a four-hour "Liturgical Drama of Mythical and Archetypal Divine Revelation" called "The Mummery."

This is nothing less than a New Age form of serious religious drama, presented by the Free Daist Sacred Theatre Guild, which is the theatrical wing of The Free Daist Communion. And its author is no less a figure than the cult's guru, Da Kalki, or, more fully, "The Divine World-Teacher and True Heart-Master, Da Love-Ananda Hridayam" -- born Franklin Albert Jones in New York and more familiar to many as the early '70s Marin-based guru Da Free John.

The ambitiousness of the project is apparent all over the stage, if not in the quality of the drama itself. Ten years in the making, according to the press materials, it features about two dozen performers on stage, several musicians in the wings, slide projections, puppets, at least one filmed sequence (which didn't work on Saturday when I saw the show) and a versatile, two-tiered set.

"Mummery" is not strictly speaking a passion play or a mystery play, in the sense of a drama that tells of the life of a founder of a religion, though it has elements of both. It's actually more like a very long shaggy dog koan -- and the pay-off, though by far the most effective moment, isn't really worth the wait. It's the story -- narrated by Mel McMurrin as performed by the cast -- of Raymond Darling, played capably enough by Sandal Hastings as a young boy, Jonah Reed as a lad and, principally, by Jack Sack as a young man. The show traces his life from a seemingly uninteresting (though, apparently, fraught with meaning) childhood to the significant apotheosis in a temple that closes the show.

Along the way, he encounters an odd figure called Meridian Smith, who's meant to be some sort of cosmic trickster (Stan Hastings, working too hard for a comic effect that just isn't there); his true love, Quandra (Magdalena Hurwitz, whose brief mating dance with Sack provides one of the few sparks of life); her mother, Bue Ma (Theresa Johannes); and his own teacher-disciple, Evelyn Disk (Steve Brown).

Most of this, sad to say, is pretty uninteresting stuff. For every good moment or effect -- a terrific globular evil puppet, Brown's off-handed narration of a completely different version of Darling's life than we've been witnessing -- there are too many uninteresting or embarrassing ones: an over-long, hackneyed run through the woods, and a blatant porn-show-style masturbatory dance.

Even the striking and effective finale drags on. Directors Rob Meadows and Ruth Schoenheimer have come up with some effective stage pictures here and there, though they don't provide much variety in pacing and tone. The original score by John Mackay, an eclectic mishmash of New Agey sounds, ranging from faux jazz to second-rate Gian Carlo Menotti, isn't much help.

But the show's chief problem is a script that exudes self-satisfied smugness, making it seem like a treat for Free Daist devotees alone, rather than -- as it's meant to be -- a means of reaching people outside the group. Devoted followers may be a guru's bread and butter, but they're not much help to a beginning playwright.

THEATER REVIEW

"The Mummery'

Playwright: Da Kalki
Directors: Rob Meadows, Ruth Schoenheimer
Cast: Jack Sack, Steve Brown, Mel McMurrin, Theresa Johannes, Magdalena Hurwitz
Theater: Cowell, through Feb. 3 (552-3656)