Central Works Theatre Ensemble - Production History

MATA HARI

A new drama about the world's most famous woman spy
written and directed by Gary Graves, featuring Jan Zvaifler, Jeff Wincek, Louis Parnell* and John Patrick Moore*, with dramaturgy by Melissa Hillman, costumes by Lauren Kaplan, sound by Gregory Scharpen, lights by Mike Curtis and stage management by Sabrina Kniffin (*appears courtesy of AEA).

July 19 to August 24

Berkeley City Club
2315 Durant Avenue

Produced in association with Women in Time
On February 13, 1917, Margaretha Zelle, known professionally as Mata Hari, was arrested by French authorities for the crime of espionage. In the years just before the First World War, Mata Hari took Paris by storm as a renowned courtesan and scandalous "exotic dancer" who single-handedly raised the striptease to an art form--according to some. Was she really a spy for the French? Or a double agent for the Germans? Or was her crime simply violating certain wartime standards of decency? Fact and fantasy collide as we explode the legend of Mata Hari in this new drama from Berkeley's very own new play factory: CENTRAL WORKS. We make plays.

"Developed collaboratively by Central Works, this nonlinear, carefully structured drama...looks at the defiant Dutch nude dancer, who was executed by the French for spying for the Germans...Graves--who directed as deftly as he writes--imbues her story with mystery, pain, and allure, suggesting a kind of political scapegoating. Jan Zvaifler was a glamorous and riveting [Mata] Hari, a good foil for Louis Parnell's conflicted interrogator. John Patrick Moore provided strong support in multiple roles. "
--Jean Shiffman, Backstage West

" Central Works has created an intense, fascinating new work that explodes the Mata Hari myth...Zvaifler is by turns contemptuous, seductive, and outraged in her dance with interrogator Bouchardon, who always stays close, hounding Zelle even as his fascination with her as a woman grows...Jeff Wincek and John Patrick Moore, each playing a full handful of men, do excellent jobs of keeping their characters separate through the use of simple props and accents"
--Lisa Drostova, East Bay Express

"...a compelling account of what really led this fascinating figure to the firing squad...Zvaifler and Parnell charge every measured silence between them with a fevered chemistry, while John Patrick Moore and Jeff Wincek deftly deliver an array of lovers, admirers, and tormentors. Lauren Kaplan's elegant costumes lend the proceedings visual authority, and Gregory Scharpen's sound design supports a captivating atmosphere of nostalgia and menace."
--Robert Avila, SF Weekly

"Mata Hari, Central Works' riveting closeup of Margaretha Zelle, is an impassioned, incandescent revelation of inner forces at work in a complex woman too often, and too unsuitably, in love. Jan Zvaifler manages the title role, ever so slyly letting the femininity of a courtesan soften the steely hauteur of a spy, like the lacy edge of a petticoat peeking from beneath the elegant severity of a formal skirt. Louis Parnell, John Patrick Moore and Jeff Wincek complete the right and precise cast as French officers in this circle of intrigue and boudoir espionage in the age before spying became electric."
--Jack Tucker, Berkeley Voice & West County Times