Stuff Happens: A Play
by David Hare
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Book Summary Information
Author: David HareEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2005-10-01
ISBN: 057122606X
Number of pages: 128
Publisher: Faber & Faber
Book Reviews of Stuff Happens: A Play
Book Review: A history play covering the recent stupidities
Summary: 5 Stars
British playwright David Hare's play about the buildup for the invasion of Iraq by the United States, Britain and some token allies, centers on the public pronouncements of the major players, George W. Bush, Tony Blair, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Condoleezza Rice, Colin Powell and others. Hare simply quotes Bush, Blair, et al. while constructing dialogue for the meetings that were private. He writes in an Author's Note: "Nothing in the narrative is knowingly untrue."
The result is an easy to read, easy to imagine bit of theater that underscores the mendacity and stupidity of our highest officials. How this would look on stage is left pretty much up to those who produce the play which opened at the Olivier auditorium of the National Theatre September 1, 2004. Actors are used to introduce the player about to speak, often serving as a narrative chorus. Thus, opening Scene Eight, "An Actor" says, "On September 17th the President signs an executive order authorising attacks on Afghanistan. Three days later he addresses Congress:"
And then the actor playing Bush steps forward and speaks his line. Because the action moves between the White House and London, between Paris and the United Nations building in New York and elsewhere, the audience needs to be clued in some way that the scene and players have changed. Not having seen the play performed I imagine that part of the stage can be lighted while the rest is in darkness so that props indicating the next scene are set up. And then the lighting is switched, directing the audience's attention. Or in some cases players could just step forward into the spotlight to deliver their lines. The effect of this kind of play, in which the scenery and settings are minimal, is to increase the importance of the dialogue which makes the play easy to read since little in the way of visual imagination is required on the part of the reader.
Colin Powell comes across as the protagonist, the man who compromises himself because he is caught between doing what he knows is right and his loyalty to his country and its institutions, especially in the form of George W. Bush, the President. Bush, contrary to the popular understanding in which is he often seen as the dupe of Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, et al., in this play often seems to be a manipulator, off to the side observing the machinations of his cabinet, making sure they say what he wants to hear. This, I believe, is partly an artifice of play that results because Hare has so much dialogue from so many players, and partly because Bush is not especially articulate and so ends up listening a lot until he elects to make his decision about what is to be done. One can see that Bush imagines himself as someone taking careful counsel and then like superman becoming the man of action, as he terms himself, in the form of "the decider."
Tony Blair seems like a man who got himself into a difficult situation for no apparent reason. Condi Rice seems more like a servant to the president than a counselor. Dick Cheney is seen as totally Machiavellian, as an evil kind of man who cares nothing for the lives or feelings of other people. Rumsfeld is somewhat of an old bumbler who is caught up so much in his own mind with his own distorted view of reality that he continually tries to superimpose that reality onto others.
In the end the play does not depart much from the reality that we have experience in our newspapers, on television and in documentaries. The people responsible for the hugely expensive (both in terms of lives lost and moneys spent) fiasco in Iraq are seen as executive types carefully protecting their butts and crossing their t's and dotting their i's while at the same time blinding going over the precipice.
There are some exceptions. The French foreign minister Dominique de Villepin (now Prime Minister) is there to remind everybody of the folly about to happen while the arms inspector Hans Blix almost alone speaks frankly and realistically, and I might add, truthfully. Everybody else seems to look both ways politically-speaking before saying anything, and then often what they say is a falsehood, vacuous, or something stupid which will result in Rumsfeld eventually having to say (also stupidly), "Stuff happens."
The "stuff" here that happens is rather deadly, but Rumsfeld, et al. seem oblivious to that fact, alone in their deluded minds.
What fascinated me about this play is how easily it seems to have been composed from mostly public utterances. It is a kind of tragedy that seems to happen almost of its own accord given the character of the players.
Summary of Stuff Happens: A Play
"Stuff happens . . . And it's untidy, and freedom's untidy, and free people are free to make mistakes and commit crimes and do bad things."
Such was Donald Rumsfeld's response on April 11, 2003, following the infamous looting and pillaging of Baghdad. In David Hare's powerful new play chronicling the extraordinary process leading to the American invasion of Iraq, this statement provides entrée into the melee of diplomacy, political power, and terrorist vendetta still making headlines around the world. Using direct quotes meticulously culled from interviews and public appearances, combined with the playwright's nuanced reimagining of what went on behind closed doors, Hare has fashioned a historical narrative and human drama that presents the Iraqi conflict in all of its
haphazard notoriety. Stuff Happens uses a uniquely evenhanded approach to a deeply contested invasion--seen from the perspective of international leaders and journalists, as well as Iraqi refugees--and raises a series of provocative questions regarding the most heartfelt and manipulative machinations of domestic and international politik.
Such was Donald Rumsfeld's response on April 11, 2003, following the infamous looting and pillaging of Baghdad. In David Hare's powerful new play chronicling the extraordinary process leading to the American invasion of Iraq, this statement provides entrée into the melee of diplomacy, political power, and terrorist vendetta still making headlines around the world. Using direct quotes meticulously culled from interviews and public appearances, combined with the playwright's nuanced reimagining of what went on behind closed doors, Hare has fashioned a historical narrative and human drama that presents the Iraqi conflict in all of its
haphazard notoriety. Stuff Happens uses a uniquely evenhanded approach to a deeply contested invasion--seen from the perspective of international leaders and journalists, as well as Iraqi refugees--and raises a series of provocative questions regarding the most heartfelt and manipulative machinations of domestic and international politik.
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