London, Jan 19 : American actor/director Kevin Spacey has landed in an controversy after it was reported that his play’s lead actor Richard Dreyfuss had to be fed his lines through an earpiece.

The premiere of ‘Complicit’ was supposed to take place at the city''s Old Vic theatre on January 19, but it was pushed back until the following week because the show needed “more development time”, a spokesperson said.

It has now come out that Dreyfuss has been failing to learn his lines properly, and is using the aid of an earpiece to perform on stage, the Daily Telegraph reported.

Theatregoers, who were invited to preview performances of the show, ridiculed Dreyfuss’ performance, and fans have commented online about his having to wear an earpiece.

“This is worse than awful and Dreyfuss is having his lines fed to him through an earpiece. You have been warned,” the Daily Express quoted a fan as having written on theatre website Whatsonstage. com.

Dreyfuss’ representatives were unavailable for comment. (ANI)