It’s a backstage drama worthy of Entourage: Leading man Jeremy Piven has suddenly split from the critical and commercial hit Broadway revival of David Mamet’s Speed-the-Plow, citing doctors’ diagnosis that he’s suffering a high mercury count, Variety reports Thursday.

But playwright Mamet expressed skepticism about Piven’s condition, which was revealed after the actor missed Tuesday night’s and Wednesday’s matinee performances – and then, reports the New York Post, flying back to Los Angeles Wednesday night.

“I talked to Jeremy on the phone, and he told me that he discovered that he had a very high level of mercury,” Mamet told Daily Variety. “So my understanding is that he is leaving show business to pursue a career as a thermometer.”

Mamet added that “some really great actors will be helping out and stepping in,” with the Post reporting that Dirty Rotten Scoundrels Tony-winner Norbert Leo Butz has temporarily stepped into Piven’s part, that of a breathless Hollywood exec similar in temperament to Piven’s agent Ari Gold on HBO’s Entourage.

The Post also reports that at Wednesday’s matinee about 300 theater patrons requested box-office refunds following the announcement that Piven was MIA from the show, which also stars Broadway’s Raul Esparza and Mad Men’s Elisabeth Moss.

The show opened Oct. 23 and is scheduled to run through Feb. 22. A rep for Piven told the Post that the actor wished to continue in the show but that doctors advised him to leave the show immediately.

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