Morning:
14°c
Some fares could fall by more than a third when Oyster is extended to every national rail station in London, it has emerged
More...
New Moon is nothing if not an international advertisement for the hungry virtues of virginity and young people can’t get enough of it
The Twilight Saga: New Moon
Theatre
A smart, prickly and rewarding view of sexual and emotional confusion
Cock
Restaurants
Kitchen W8 is a bargain for this area, if such sophistication is what you crave
Kitchen W8
Too long and drawn out but very entertaining with excellent special effects
This is a peculiar play and does not work for me. Some of it is very funny but there are real flaws
Alex has a strong powerful voice and was faultless, she is far better now than she was on the X-Factor
London,
Nicholas de Jongh's rating
Reader rating
Dir: Kevin Spacey.
Cast: Richard Dreyfuss, Elizabeth McGovern, David Suchet
Description: A contemporary American play about an acclaimed journalist hauled in front of a supreme court. Written by Joe Sutton, directed by Kevin Spacey and starring Richard Dreyfuss.
Trains: Tube/BR: Waterloo 
Phone: 0870060 6628
Website: www.oldvictheatre.com
Extra info: Food, Pub
Friends, Romans...Elizabeth McGovern, David Suchet and Richard Dreyfuss as the conscience-wracked journalist in Complicit, directed by Kevin Spacey at the Old Vic
Fan base: Marianna Vildiridou and daughter Denny at the Old Vic first night
Richard Dreyfuss’s ear stole the show at last night’s delayed opening of Complicit, not that it had much competition.
This eye-catching ear generated an excitement and mystery otherwise quite lacking in Joe Sutton’s pedestrian, ill-timed play about an American journalist threatened with prison if he fails to disclose his source for a story about the US government’s role in permitting some of its terrorist suspects to be killed. According to reports which have not been denied, Dreyfuss was fitted with an ear-phone device, so that if his memory chanced to fail he could be discreetly prompted, without spoiling whatever tiny dollops of enjoyment audiences could squeeze from Kevin Spacey’s flashy production.
From Row K my eyes were frequently distracted by Dreyfuss’s wearing of a curious string-like attachment to some silvery metal objects and a pink wire that snaked round his neck, went behind his ear and into it. Were my eyes deceiving me? What exactly was it? If only Spacey had been open and admitted the ear-piece’s role everyone would have then relaxed and perhaps acknowledged most stage actors nightly prove they have the memories of elephants.
In the event, though, Dreyfuss gives a fairly assured, fluent, suitably agonised performance in the thankless role of Benjamin Kritzer, a Pulitzer prize-winning journalist faced with a nagging question of conscience and journalistic ethics. As the play opens Benjamin is poised to face the attentions of the Supreme Court and a Grand Jury. He has claimed the Bush administration has been rendering al Qaeda terrorists to several savage countries where they are routinely tortured, anally raped with glass bottles and sometimes shot in view of fellow-suspects to encourage truth-telling.
His far younger, anxious partner, Judith, played by Elizabeth McGovern in a voice that often fails to travel far into the audience, nervously poses and answers the question that Complicit superficially discusses. Should not Ben put his family first and recognise that he will face a prison term if he fails to disclose the source for his story?
The in the round staging, retained after the Old Vic’s triumphant Ayckbourn trilogy, is ill-suited to an unatmospheric, three-character play, dependent on telephone calls and waiting-periods in a corridor to the Supreme Court. Rob Howell’s hi-tech design, with its glass floor and video screens flashing images of Kritzer being interviewed by the real-life Andrew Marr, exudes an irrelevant, opulent chic. David Suchet, in histrionic, emphatic form as Benjamin’s lawyer keeps appearing with dire warnings about the prosecutor’s ruthlessness and the chance of Kritzer ending up with a 20-year sentence. The journalist’s decision never seems much in doubt, however much he agonises.
At a time when the nightmare of Bush is over and Obama promises to close Guantanamo, it seems a case of bad timing to raise once again the question of America’s resort to torture. It would have been far more interesting and relevant for the Old Vic to commission a play investigating Britain’s own, shameful collusion with the USA over rendition.
Audience applauds and asks what's all this ear fuss?
Hollywood actor Richard Dreyfuss warned critics not to write him off after he received warm applause and praise from the audience.
Fears over the use of an earpiece to help him remember his lines did nothing to dent praise for his lead performance.
At a cast drinks party he said his performance had been “good and bad and great and fabulous”. Oscar-winner Dreyfuss, 61, said: “Everyone always underestimates me. I know that people say things about me and I keep coming back.”
Among the audience was Samantha Hebet, 32, a drama tutor from Leytonstone. She said: “I noticed the earpiece. I think he should have been brave and just done it. I didn’t feel at any moment that he didn’t know his lines.”
Marcus Hopkins, 34, from Ealing, said: “There were times when I was obsessing over the earpiece, trying to catch Dreyfuss using it, but it was an enjoyable evening.” Marianna Vildiridou, 50, from Greece, said the play exceeded her expectations. “I didn’t notice he was wearing an earpiece.” Her daughter, 25-year-old jeweller Denny Vildiridou, said: “Richard Dreyfuss was incredible, very good.”
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
Really enjoyed watching this play. I thought David Suchet and Richard Dreyfuss' interchanges were excellent. Their acting and dialogue was naturalistic and I thought that it was a masterclass in acting. The play itself left very little to chew over and was lightweight with pretensions. The third actor, half the age of Richard Dreyfuss at least, had very little to work with. As she was playing his wife, the unremarked age difference was indicative of the poorly fleshed out story throughout. Despite the play itself, definitely worth seeing for the Suchet/Dreyfuss exchanges.
- M Jones, London, UK
What you appear not to have appreciated .... and this is probably particularly a quirk of Hollywood ..... is that the hearing aid is not an aide memoire, it merely allows novel spontaneous dynamic viral comment to be injected into the production to reflect the subtle changes, which in such real life situations as are being virtually simulated and presented on the Old Vic stage, will always generate.
But it does require more than a modicum of intelligence from the audience too, to really appreciate the acting roles/prowess of its star performers/smart listeners.
- Amanfrommars, Seventh Heaven Global Communications HQ
There's nothing smug self righteous British theatre and movie audiences like more than anti-Americanism coming from Americans (ie Michael Moore). This play was absolutely tailor made for the Old Vic audience. I bet they lapped it up.
- Steve, UK
I was two rows from the front for the matinée preceding press night, and it really was impossible to avoid the earpiece, especially when the sticky tape holding it in came loose and the whole thing flapped around. I kept being reminded of my mother-in-law who has her own problems with hearing aids. That was one diversion. The second was to wonder what had happened to the two interrogators listed in the programme but never to appear - and also to the 30 minutes that seemed to have disappeared between programme and performance! The third was to wonder why Dreyfuss's wife seemed to be half his age. All of these ponderables could have been resolved by simple explanation. While the plotline may be old news with the arrival of President Obama, it could still make strong drama, and David Suchet, fine old hand that he is, excelled in the role of the lawyer trying to ensure the journalist did not go to prison. I became engrossed in the intensity of the piece in the second act, by which time Mr Dreyfuss's 'promptaid' had been more securely fastened, but then it kind of ended, and I wondered whether the missing half hour had just been chopped off the end in mericiful release!
Theatre in the round like this must be an intense experience for actors, and there is no obvious place for the prompt to be positioned. So why not just say that Richard Dreyfuss was taking precautions, or even say he's deaf - I'd have bought both explanations!
All that said I remain a passionate Old Vic supporter
- David Hughes, Camberley, UK
Stay off the Stage Richard. You're an embarrassement. If you can't or won't learn the lines, stay away cos a stage actor you ain't never gonna be!
- Jonathan Axworthy, Emsworth. UK
I was also sat in row K but watched the play and excellent performances rather than my pre-written notes. Concentrating on an earpiece rather than the play, he misses most of the key points in this very interesting, if flawed, play. No comment on the way in which the play asks us who the victim in all of this, how the central character is broken by both his enemies and his friends.
- Ecbian, Manchester, England
Dreyfuss' earpiece is the least of this production's worries. It might in fact be a welcome distraction from a play that's more overcooked than tinned spinach.
Dreadful writing (what could have been an interesting premise somehow became devoid of meaning) and generally dreadful performances.
Dreyfuss was so flat, you'd have thought he was being told there was no pickle for his sandwich, rather than facing 20 years in prison. McGovern had a limited role but even so, when she wailed: "you make me" to Dreyfuss a couple of people in the audience sniggered. That the two characters were supposed to be married (even if estranged) was impossible to accept.
I think Andy Marr put in the best performance via the film-excerpts. He looked suitable bemused during his fictional interview with Dreyfuss, quite possibly prophesying the sentiments of the audience.
There is still much theatrical opportunity in this subject matter. How the Old Vic thought Complicit had something to say is beyond me. I'm sorry to be this savage but really, this was painful.
- Lizzie Osborne, London
