The Birthday Party was scheduled to begin previews Feb. 4, prior to an official opening Feb. 12.

"Postponing the run will give us the opportunity to present the best production of The Birthday Party to our audiences who have come to expect the highest quality from the Geffen," artistic director Randall Arney said in a statement.

Directed by Academy Award winner William Friedkin ("The French Connection," "The Exorcist"), the previously announced cast included Katie Amess ("The Good Drunk," "Hollywood Ugly"), Frances Barber (Julius Caesar, "Silk"), Steven Berkoff ("The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo," "The Tourist"), David O’Hara ("The Departed," "Luther"), Academy Award nominee Tim Roth ("Rob Roy," "Pulp Fiction") and Nick Ullett (Loot, Me and My Girl).

The production would have marked a reunion for Friedkin and the play; he directed Pinter's screenplay of The Birthday Party, which starred Robert Shaw.

"Two imposing strangers arrive at an English seaside boarding house — disrupting the monotony and disturbing the puzzled tenant Stanley," press notes state. "In celebration of Stanley’s birthday, a party is planned but menace arrives and mayhem ensues. This celebrated and darkly comic work mixes the familiar with the strange and the anticipated with the offbeat for an unconventional experience that is anything but expected and nothing but extraordinary." Visit geffenplayhouse.com for more information.