Kate Mosse, author of Labyrinth, will unlock the secrets of her book when she appears at The Apex in Bury St Edmunds in March

First published in 2005, Kate Mosse’s novel, Labyrinth quickly became an international phenomenon, translated into 37 languages and selling around eight million copies.

To celebrate the book’s 20th anniversary, Kate is taking to the road with Labyrinth Live: Unlocking the Secrets of the Labyrinth – an atmospheric theatre show which guides audiences through the history of the Languedoc region, revisits the brutal 13th century wars, 20th century Nazi conspiracy theories and modern-day Grail legends.

What inspired you to create the Labyrinth Live show?

It’s the book that changed my life. It meant it was possible for me to be a full-time writer. I was already in my 40s and had published four books before, so I was lucky.

I was also inspired by the fact that when I was on tour with Warrior Queens and Quiet Revolutionaries, every night someone would come up with a copy of Labyrinth and share their stories of what the novel meant to them. It was very humbling. One young man told me that he’d taken his girlfriend to Carcassonne and proposed on the battlements. One person even showed me a tattoo from a line from the novel on her arm!

So, I want to celebrate the book’s 20th anniversary and say ‘thank you’ to all the readers that made this happen.

What areas will you be covering in the show?

I’ll be sharing my inspirations behind the story of Labyrinth, from the very first moment I set foot in Carcassonne in 1989, to the inspirational moments of climbing Montségur in the Pyrenees six or seven years later and coming face to face with the image of the woman who would become my lead character Alaïs, though not knowing who she was. I'll be talking about how the novel took shape, how my characters came to life, and we’ll also show a few of the pictures from the filming of the Labyrinth mini-series.

What else will you be addressing?

I’ll shine a spotlight on the real history that underpins the novel: the Nazi Grail hunters and Grail legends; the history of the Cathars; about labyrinths themselves, which became very significant in Christianity in medieval Europe; about hieroglyphs and ancient Egypt, and the links between those ancient religions and the Cathar religion. I've also dug out plenty of original research which didn’t find its way into the novel – not least, the story of the final downfall of the Cathars (which happens after my novel has ended).

As a bit of fun, I’ll also share a few stories about life on the road in 2005 and 2006 promoting the book – for example, how the novel was viewed in different countries, like France, Japan, Norway, China and Brazil.

What format will the show take?

Unlike a normal book talk, this is an immersive, dramatic piece of theatre, with music, video, special effects, props and photographs. From the minute the audience comes into the auditorium, I hope they will experience the sense of mysteries hidden in the landscape.

How do you feel about performing one-woman theatre shows?

It was wonderful to start a new career as a performer in my 60s! I'm a great believer in having a go, so when I was approached about doing Warrior Queens and Quiet Revolutionaries as a live show, I thought; ‘Well, what have you got to lose!’ I was excited by the challenge, terrified too, of course. When you are giving a book talk or lecture, you stand at a lectern for 45 minutes or are interviewed and take questions. A theatre show is completely different and there is so much that could go wrong: lighting cues, sound cues, being in the wrong part of the stage, dropping a prop. . .

However, what makes live theatre so special is that it is a unique show every night, depending on the audience. Hearing people's applause at the end, the warmth and energy you get from performing is just like nothing else.

Why do you think the Labyrinth novel has enjoyed such success?

It's not for me to say, really. That’s up to the readers. But there were a couple of things that made a difference looking back. The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown came out the year before Labyrinth. That, of course, is also a Grail legend story, and at first I was devastated. I’d been working on my novel for ten years and I worried that suddenly, someone else had got in first. The opposite was true. The Da Vinci Code was a massive global seller and set up an appetite for that kind of mystery inspired by ancient legends. So, when my novel came out in 2005, there were readers wanting more.

What do you hope that audiences will take away from Labyrinth Live?

More than anything, that they have had a brilliant night out. I write to entertain, and I perform to entertain, so enjoyment is top of the list. Beyond that, I’d like them to have a strong sense of how women’s stories are part of history too, and how that matters. I’d like them to be thinking about the persecution of the Cathars, and the tragic ways in which history repeats itself through the generations. I’d love them to be thinking about mystery and folklore, history and legend. I also want people to also come out buzzing with the joy of history and knowing that storytelling is the thing that brings us all together.

Is storytelling part of our DNA?

Definitely. It helps us to make sense of the world. I’ve learned that most readers don’t think ‘I must learn about the Cathars’, but rather they fall in love with a character and so become invested in their story.

History matters because knowing about the past shines a light on the present. Human beings always find a way to muck things up. But if we know the history, at least we can be more sympathetic to those with whom we don't agree, and maybe that leaves room for dialogue.

Kate Mosse will be ‘Unlocking the Secrets of the Labyrinth’ at The Apex in Bury St Edmunds on Sunday, March 30 at 7.30pm. See theapex.co.uk or call 01284 758000