Fascinating subject for new play by the author of Kindertransport - opening at Watford prior to West End It is 1917. The First World War has taken its toll on 'gay Paree'. Everyone is struggling, not least the notorious exotic dancer, Mata Hari, formerly Margaretha Zelle from Holland. Arrested for passing French information to the Germans but steadfastly proclaiming her love for France, Mata Hari is interrogated by two Frechmen who are convinced that everything she says and does is a lethal fiction For years Mata Hari has been seen as a femme fatale and a dangerous spy. But the 'truth' behind this remarkable woman is a good deal more complex, with many having their own motives for their version of her story. Why is everything about her not quite what it seems? And what really lies beneath her many masks? The True Life Fiction of Mata Hari is the first of Diane Samuels' plays to reach the London stage since the continuing success of Kindertransport, her play about the 10,000 Jewish children permanently evacuated from Nazi Germany. Our edition carries an introduction by Julie Wheelwright, author of a biography of Mata Hari, The Fatal Lover.