THE DESTINY OF ME: A play, presented by the Circle Repertory Company at the Lucille Lortel Theater, 121 Christopher St. Written by Larry Kramer, with Peter Fretchette, Jonathan Hadary, Oni Falda Lampley, Piper Laurie, Bruce McCarty, John Cameron Mitchell, and David Spielberg. Directed by Marshall W. Mason. Scenery by John Lee Beatty. Costumes by Melina Rood. Lighting by Dennis Parichy. Incidental music by Peter Kater. 1(212) 239-6200. $35.

Larry Kramer doesn't make it easy on his audiences. For one thing, the playwright is an angry man- especially about what he feels is the Establishment's inadequate response to the AIDS crisis- and he makes no attempt to modulate his fury. His 1985 play "The Normal Heart" was a political polemic delivered as a long, loud shout, not only at such politicians as Ronald Reagan and Ed Koch, but at Kramer's opponents within the gay movement.

In "The Destiny of Me," which opened Tuesday night at the Lucille Lortel Theater, Ned Weeks, the character who served as Kramer's alter ego in "The Normal Heart" is back, more irritating than ever. He now carries the AIDS virus himself and has entered a government hospital for experimental treatment. Both fearful and insolent, Weeks harangues the doctor who's trying to save his life while taking pride in his young activist supporters, who, unaware that Weeks is a patient, destroy the doctor's laboratory. (In the program, Kramer takes credit for "fostering the Gay Men's Health Crisis and ACT UP," the activist gay group.)

Beneath Weeks' behavior, however, is the beginning of a journey of discovery, as he goes back in time to try to find what made him, to examine the fear and pride of being homosexual. It's a journey of pain, oftern made exasperating by 'Weeks' ego ("I wanted to be Moses (of the gay movement), but I could only be Cassandra") and self-pity ("People don't fall in love with me"). But the unashamed revelations of need also make the journey moving. Directed thoughtfully by Marshall Mason and with a sterling cast, the play holds us for its long roller-coaster ride, with interludes of myopia and meanness balanced by insight and honest anguish. Weeks' history centers on his early years, and Kramer's technique is to have his protagonist (Jonathan Hadary), who is in his 50's coesixt with his teenage self (John Cameron Mitchell), as the boy goes through emotionally painful rites of pasage. Weeks puts most of the plame for his unhappiness on his harsh father (David Spielberg), a failed lawyer who tries to beat the sissiness out of his son. Taking glancing blows from the author are a loving mother (Piper Laurie), who buries herself in outside activities to try to escape a loveless marriage, and an older brother, Benjamin (Peter Frechette), who isn't there when Ned needs him and later sends Ned to a series of psychiatrists to try to "cure" his homosexuality. Ultimately, Ned is reconciled with Benjamin, whom Kramer acknowledges as a caring brother.

Though familiar, the dysfunctional family rings true, even if there's a gap in the picture caused by Ned's failure to look inside himself and to consider his own responsibility for his life. He is, nevertheless, a touching figure in the sensitive, finely detailed performances of Hadary and Mitchell. When they interact in a scene with the confused but feisty boy trying to discover himself as the rueful older man kibbutzes from the sidelines, knowing the despair to come, the sense of a tortured existence is laid out painfully before us.

Like "The Normal Heart," "The Destiny of Me," is, in part, theater as an assault weapon. But it delves deeper, showing us the place where Ned Weeks' difficult qualities took root.