By Mel Gussow
The New York Times
4 December 1986

''THE KNEE PLAYS'' by Robert Wilson and David Byrne is presented as the American section of ''The Civil Wars,'' Mr. Wilson's monumental, multilinear extravaganza. However, in keeping with the global aspect of the complete epic, ''The Knee Plays'' is decidedly international - with a specific Japanese flavor. In fact, one could regard the work as a Wilsonian ascent into Orientalism, as his ''Noh Plays,'' with more than a touch of Bunraku and Kabuki. As seen in its New York premiere Tuesday at Alice Tully Hall, this is an eclectic piece, filled with visual puns; it is one of Mr. Wilson's most sheerly enjoyable and accessible works.

The 13 vignettes that comprise ''The Knee Plays'' are meant to be joints or connectives between the long acts of ''Civil Wars.'' Extracted from the cycle and put together into an evening lasting 100 minutes, the ''opera'' is not simply a series of interludes. Instead, it is like an acrostic puzzle, a riddle that, once solved, assumes a new shape and significance. Parenthetically, the Knee Plays themselves have preludes, which perhaps one could call Elbow Plays.

At the core of the work is the art of transformation. Puppets become people and people, in masks, become puppets. A tree turns into a house, which turns into a boat. From the boat evolves a book, which then becomes a tree. Each object is represented by square modules - a cross between children's building blocks and Japanese screens - which regroup themselves into different arrangements. There are patterns within patterns. The tree is T-shaped. Struck by lightning, it becomes a tipped tree (or T). Later its foliage or wings are clipped and it sails to sea.

Orchestrating the regrouping is an elegant company of white-garbed dancers. Silently, they shift the scenery, manipulate the puppets, Bunraku-style, and achieve a life within the rebus of Mr. Wilson's fervid imagination. At the same time, a jazz band plays Mr. Byrne's score, infectious New Orleans-style music - slow drags and street marches - and an offstage narrator speaks a stream of Mr. Byrne's words.

Though the piece is decidedly abstract, there is a story line, dealing with the life cycle through history, from the tree of life through Noah's ark and onward to Admiral Perry's opening of Japan and to the American Civil War. But to be overly conscious of narrative is to miss some of the intuitive surprise of the expedition.

Things are seldom what they seem to be. Nor are they necessarily congruent with Mr. Wilson's storyboard reproduced in the program. I am still wondering where the promised lion was in the first play; perhaps it was subliminal. Other figures are self-evident: a golden-hued robot, a pterodactyl puppet, a mound of Japanese baskets that becomes self-animating, a child with a Buddha head who closes the evening by reading a book of the tree.

Geometric shapes - light forms -congregate, as if gathering for a meeting. At times they resemble a Mondrian canvas in motion. Then, suddenly, a rear screen is ablaze with Miro-like swirls. Each theatergoer will have his own impressions of the stage pictures. The eighth Knee Play is summarized as ''the boat hull sinks below the sea.'' In actuality, there is a simulated underwater ballet - a restless cinematic sea projected on the screen and sensuous dancers (as fish or waves?) rippling on stage.

Suzushi Hanayagi's choreography is as integral to the piece as Mr. Byrne's music and Mr. Wilson's tapestry of images, and an additional asset is Heinrich Brunke's palette of lighting effects, which finds infinite shadings in the black and white design. Only Mr. Byrne's words (spoken by Matthew Buckingham) remain quizzical, although they seem generally to deal with matters of time and travel. As passengers, we sit back and let our senses luxuriate in a pristine performance-art journey.

The show concluded its scheduled four-performance engagement last night at Alice Tully Hall. It should return. While fascinating Mr. Wilson's admirers, ''The Knee Plays'' might also expand his audience.

MAKING CONNECTIONS - THE KNEE PLAYS, the American Section from Robert Wilson's epic opera ''The Civil Wars: A Tree Is Best Measured When It Is Down.'' Scenario by Mr. Wilson; music and words by David Byrne; choreography by Suzashi Hanayagi; lighting by Heinrich Brunke; musical direction by Frank London; directed by Mr. Wilson. Presented by Great Performers at Lincoln Center; sponsored by the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, in association with IPA. At Alice Tully Hall, Broadway and 65th Street. WITH: Matthew Buckingham, Frank Conversano, Denise Gustafson, Jeannie Hill, Carl House, Cho Kyoo Hyun, Fabrizia Pinto, Satoru Shimazaki, Sanghi Wagner, Gail Donnenfeld, Charles Berg, Pablo Calogero, Matt Darriau, David Harris, Frank London, Marcus Rojas and Jeanne Snodgrass.