The True-Life Fiction of Mata Hari
(Original production at the Palace Theatre,
Watford in March 2001 starring Greta Scacchi as Mata Hari. Published by Nick Hern Books, London)
In her play The True-life Fiction of Mata Hari Diane Samuels takes up the myth of the historical
figure Mata Hari (1876 - 1917), who was a dancer as well as a spy. Since she did not only spy for France
but also for Germany, she was executed in 1917. (There have been many film versions of her story, including
one in 1931 with Greta Garbo and one in 1964 with Jeanne Moreau.) The play is set in Paris in 1917
and the action takes place from Mata Hari's arrest to her execution.
The first act shows how Mata Hari is interrogated by two policemen, Bouchardon and Baudouin. She is
charged with high treason. In the course of the interrogation it is revealed that Mata Hari is actually
Magaretha Zelle, who left her husband and her children in order to pursue her career as an exotic dancer
as well as her 'sexual interests'. She does admit to have a soft spot for men in the military - no matter
what nationality they have - but she denies that she has used her associations to spy for Germany.
The second act takes place in the death cell. Mata Hari has been found guilty although she has never
been in court. In the death cell there is also a nun, Sister L, and a soldier, who seems only to be
recognised by Mata Hari, though. Sister L wants to know how one breaks free from an ordinary life and
Mata Hari tells her to enact a woman who takes over a new image and constructs a more interesting story
of her life. In the course of this playing it becomes clear that Sister L plays Mata Hari and it is shown
this way how Margaretha Zelle constructed the mythical figure of Mata Hari and enacted her. Although Mata
Hari never confesses that she has actually spied for Germany, she is executed at the end of the second act.