Dreyfuss not to blame for Complicit delays

Has Richard Dreyfuss been scapegoated for the shortcomings of a new West End play the critics are due to review tonight? Press reports that the Oscar-winning American movie star has held up the world premiere of Joe Sutton's play Complicit because he has had difficulty learning his lines appear to be wide of the mark.

While it is true that during the preview performances Dreyfuss has worn an earpiece and had a wire plastered to the back of his neck - devices used as a prompt for forgetful actors - another reason for the delay has emerged. "Frankly, Mr Dreyfuss's memory is the least of Complicit's problems," writes Andrew Haydon, a freelance theatre critic and journalist, on his blog. "Complicit's big problem is Joe Sutton's script; which is dreadful."

Haydon’s remarks back up the view of a theatre-goer who saw a preview of Complicit at the Old Vic last Tuesday and reported back to The First Post. According to our source, the play's failings are so bad that it has necessitated constant re-writes, and it this that has resulted in 61-year-old Dreyfuss, best known for his roles in Steven Spielberg's blockbusters Jaws and Close Encounters of Third Kind, needing a little extra help memorising the script.

A view endorsed by Haydon: "What is interesting... is that despite Mr Dreyfuss's line-learning issues evidently being an issue, reports from friends who saw much earlier previews suggest that they are a bit of a red-herring as far as the put back press-night goes. Dreyfuss is basically fine. The wire is barely noticeable and doesn't appear to impede his performance one iota."

Complicit deals with a fictional Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, played by Dreyfuss, and his various ruminations on the American programme of extraordinary rendition and the torturing of suspected al-Qaeda terrorists. Included in the play were various torture scenes, said to be so "risible" that all but one of them had been removed by the time The First Post’s source saw the play last week.

"In the programme there are two ‘Interrogators’ credited," Haydon writes. "These now make only the briefest of appearances at the very close of the play, in a kind of nightmare coda that I'm afraid looks as if it has been lifted from an entirely different, and not-very-good student drama Guantanamo-protest piece. Apparently there were more of these before and, according to my source, they were utterly risible."

He concludes his blog by saying that Kevin Spacey, the Old Vic's artistic director and also the director of Complicit, "might want to think about knocking out this final example before press night." Whether this happens or not will be revealed tonight when the play is - finally - put before the critics. Watch this space. ·