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Paris 1917. The First World War is taking a heavy toll. Mata Hari, celebrated exotic dancer, is arrested for passing information to Germany and interrogated by two Frenchmen who believe she is ‘the greatest woman spy of the century’. Whilst she proclaims her sincerity and innocence, her captors are increasingly convinced that everything she says is lethal fiction.
For years Mata Hari has been seen as an icon of treacherous female sexuality, yet the truth about this remarkable woman, born Margaretha Zelle in the Netherlands, is a good deal more complex and surprising. Why is everything about her not quite as it seems? Can anyone probe beneath her many masks? What is true, what is pure fantasy and what is the real price of celebrity? |
I created the role of the mysterious, ‘unknown Soldier’.
 While I was ‘giving’ my Romeo in sunny Basingstoke the previous year, I wrote to Lawrence Till (the Artistic Director of the Palace Theatre, Watford) and invited him to see my performance. Surprisingly (!), Lawrence was the only Director I wrote to who found time to come and see me. AND he even sent me a card to say that he had enjoyed my performance. I was thrilled. Thanks to his kind support of Actors (like me) and Regional Theatre (like Basingstoke) … his attendance made a young(!) Actor’s constant letter writing suddenly worthwhile.
And thus, early 2002 I was invited along to the Palace Theatre to read for the role of The Soldier in the Premiere production of Diane Samuels ‘The True Life Fiction of Mata Hari’ to be directed by Lawrence!
“PROLOGUE:
A bare stage.
Mata Hari is deftly applying her lip rouge.
The Soldier enters. He has an unreal quality, a sense of being an apparition. He watches her nervously from a distance.”
 From reading the very first page I knew I wanted this role. The ‘unknown’ Soldier was more than just a single role, it was in fact every man in Mata Hari’s private life - from her lover to her husband, to even her father. Without giving away the twist of Diane’s play, the Soldier was in fact the last man in Mata Hari’s life!
Diane was at my audition, and as our meeting came to an end Lawrence asked me if I had any questions. I asked cheekily, “Did I get the job then?” and he replied. “Well if the other guys coming in for this role are rubbish, the job’s yours!”
Needless to say, the other guys must have been rubbish (or unavailable!?).
I really love the challenge of working and exploring ‘New Writing’, and with this production I also had to master the art of playing the Harmonica!
‘Mata Hari’ was the second play by Diane Samuels to reach a London audience (since the worldwide critically acclaimed success of ‘Kindertransport’), and starred international stage and screen actress, Greta Scacchi. I couldn’t believe my luck. I was doing another new play, this time opposite Ms Scacchi! ‘Mata Hari’ was to become the second play I was a part of to be commercially published and in which I was credited for creating an original role.
Although everyone involved had high hopes that the play would transfer to the West End, it received very mixed reviews and sadly we didn’t get to see Shaftesbury Avenue!
My performance as The Soldier caused critics to unanimously proclaim: Simon Greiff plays the Soldier! Never mind.
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“The Soldier is a ghostly, sympathetic presence throughout Mata’s interrogations …the tale may be inevitable, but the journey is full of surprises”
Whatsonstage.com
**** Four Stars
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“Greiff does his best with an impossible role, which doesn’t work in the context of the play … the acting across the board is good, with Scacchi particularly”
Theatreworld ...........................................
“Scacchi can do sultry effortlessly”
The Guardian ...........................................
“The play is an interesting attempt to give voice to a woman executed”
The Times
*** Three Stars
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“It has touches of humour … an admirable performance by Greta Scacchi … a polished production”
Watford Observer ...........................................
“Lawrence Till’s richly costumed staging is done with great style”
The Stage ...........................................
“Simon, the definitive Soldier, cross my heart”
Diane Samuels – March 2002 ...........................................
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