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Two of the star characters in the Hollow Men play, Don Brash and Diane Foreman, have given the play a stinging critique after both "coincidentally" went to see it on the same night.
Mrs Foreman - an Auckland business woman who was rumoured to have had an affair with Don Brash - said the play was "a long way from reality" and its depiction of her was "exceedingly offensive".
Former National leader Dr Brash was also less than impressed with the play's depiction of him, telling Newstalk ZB it was "quite derogatory".
"The play was meant to make me look naive and goofy and the actor certainly did make me look naive and goofy. Neither of those adjectives are terribly flattering I have to say, so I wasn't wildly enthusiastic about the portrayal of me."
The play - based on Nicky Hager's book of the same name in which emails from Don Brash's office were used - covers the build-up to the 2005 election and depicts the then National Party leader as a political naif who is a puppet of his advisers.
The play also covers a time frame during which unconfirmed rumours of an affair between Dr Brash and Mrs Foreman were circulating.
Dr Brash and Mrs Foreman said their attendance on the same night was pure coincidence.
Mrs Foreman, who went with two friends, said she was "stunned" to bump into Dr Brash in the foyer, but they had agreed to compare notes at some point in the future.
When the play first began in Wellington, both Dr Brash and Mrs Foreman said they had no intention of seeing it.
Dr Brash was taken to it by the gossip columnist of a Sunday newspaper, which also paid for his ticket.
He would not discuss the play with the Herald, saying the Sunday newspaper had asked him to stay quiet.
When asked why he had decided to go as a media stunt, he said he was asked by the gossip columnist and "after much cogitation, curiosity got the better of me".
Mrs Foreman said friends who had seen the play encouraged her to go, saying it was "good fun".
"I think it probably was good fun for them. It might have been if someone wasn't portraying you."
Dr Brash said it had moments of truth, including coverage of how he changed his vote on the Civil Union Bill after extensive lobbying.
"That's not a decision I'm proud of at all. But other parts were clearly inaccurate and based on false information or a total misinterpretation of what was being done."
Mrs Foreman said the actor who played her acted well in other roles but many events portrayed in the play were inaccurate, including a breakfast which had never happened.
"I didn't even know half the people on the list.
"That's the sort of thing I found amusing, that I could be portrayed as hosting an event that I didn't host, for people I didn't know existed. So maybe it's creative licence. Maybe it's just theatre."
Mrs Foreman has previously criticised Creative NZ for giving a grant to the play's producers, saying it was inappropriate to spend taxpayer dollars on a politically motivated play.
The two went to the play at the Maidment the night after the police closed an investigation into the theft of the emails without finding out how they were taken or who by.
The investigation ruled out any external hacking into the parliamentary computer system, saying it appeared hard-copy versions of the emails were taken, reigniting rumours it was an inside job.
