Entertainment

FRESH FISH FRY FOR PIVEN

JEREMY the Tuna is back.

The battle between Jeremy Piven and the producers of “Speed-the-Plow” is reaching the final stage, as both sides square off this week in New York before an arbiter.

Everybody’s under a gag order, but I’ve heard that the producers, after stumbling a bit during an Actors’ Equity hearing in February, are launching a sharper, more aggressive assault.

THEATER BLOG: B’Way Says ‘So Long’ to Closing Shows

Piven, you’ll recall, deserted the hit revival claiming that he was suffering from mercury poisoning caused by a passion for sushi.

His abrupt departure wreaked havoc on ticket sales, although the producers eventually steadied things by bringing in William H. Macy, a real David Mamet trouper.

The producers brought Piven up on charges with Actors’ Equity, but a panel of union officials and members of the Broadway League were unable to reach a unanimous verdict, so it kicked the matter to arbitration.

The problem, according to sources who attended that first hearing, was that both sides presented cases that were “full of holes.”

Piven wept during his testimony — “I thought he gave a better performance at the hearing than he did in ‘Speed-the-Plow,’ ” another source jokes — but his medical presentation was muddled and “weird.”

The producers, meanwhile, brandished a record of where Piven’s driver took him after the show. He claimed he usually went straight home to bed because he was so ill. But the log showed he sampled New York’s nightlife.

The actors on the panel rejected that information, arguing that what Piven did offstage was his business — and that unless it had a direct impact on his performance, it was immaterial.

“You can’t reprimand someone because he goes out at night,” says a source. “They [the producers] kept talking about the logbook. But there were no complaints about his performance.”

To give Piven his due, he did get very good notices.

I’m told that this time around, the producers are presenting some examples of his odd behavior at the theater. Sometimes he’d show up just minutes before the curtain went up. He also ad-libbed a lot, since, as he told one backstage visitor, “I’m bored out of my mind.”

The arbiter has up to 30 days following the conclusion of the hearings to make a decision.

If Piven loses, he could be forced to fork over some money to the producers.

But even if he swims out of this net, he won’t work on Broadway again.

He’s about as popular with theater people as Oliver Cromwell, who closed down all of London’s theaters in the 17th century.

‘GUYS and Dolls” — which went home from the Tonys empty-handed — will close this Sunday.

So, too, will “reasons to be pretty,” which lost out to “God of Carnage.”

On the other hand, several shows got nice bumps from the telecast, including “Next to Normal” and “Rock of Ages.”

michael.riedel@nypost.com