Mata Hari

Central Works' new play about a Dutch-born spy who fooled German and French officers during World War I into thinking she was East Indian -- because of her dark eyes and the way she danced -- takes more than two hours to say nothing. Why? Mata Hari was a fascinating woman. Her life blended scandal and high politics, war intrigue and sex. To keep from going broke she worked as a courtesan and (perhaps) a double agent, but she was framed and executed by the French for petty reasons. Gary Graves' script explores these reasons like a dry biographer, with no dramatic flair. Otherwise good actors like Louis Parnell and Jan Zvailfler (as Mata Hari) don't know what to do with their talky, overlong scenes. And all the characters have a bad habit of saying "Is it?" or "Are there?" -- forcing the audience to go over the same material twice. ("Are you familiar with the Eiffel Tower?" "The Eiffel Tower?" "Mm.") There is, though, one good line, when a French intelligence officer wants to hire Mata Hari for a risky job against a high-ranking German. "We would only pay for results," he says, "nothing in advance." Mata Hari, thinking of her other line of work, says, "In my business, captain, that's customary." The rest of the play strains for such easy wit.