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| REVIEWS | BY ILLTYD HARRINGTON |
 STUFF HAPPENS |
STUFF Happens is David Hare’s gripping interpretation of the events leading to the unfinished war in Iraq. For three hours George Bush and Tony Blair strut, whine and lie behind closed doors about a war the political establishment here and in America want to avoid discussing. Nicholas Hynter, the director, controls the action as the elected, their sycophants and the often ineffectual leaders of the UN move through their conspiracies within a framework of pomp and piety. A huge cast swirls through formal meetings, intimate conversations, either sitting in grand conference rooms or eating mash potatoes and home made soup in Camp David. The themes examined by Michael Moore in Fahrenheit 9/11 and Senator Bob Graham, the joint chairman of the senate enquiry committee, get uncomfortably true, in particular about the Bush/Saudi royal family connection. $1.4 billion went to Bush family associated corporations, another benficiary is vice president Dick Cheney’s old firm Halliburton. So where does Stuff Happen lead to? Bush, played with casual accuracy by Alex Jennings, is seen to be the willing tool of Vice-President Cheney, a star portrait by Desmond Barrit. Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld, a bad tempered scorpion, is malevolently played by Dermot Crawley and, Condolezza Rice is a frightening lady in the hands of Adjoa Andoh. These three mouth their Christian prayers with the sincerity of participants of a black mass. Colin Powell (Joe Morton) comes through as a voice of moderation. Miss Rice is a Lady Macbeth, definitely without suicidal tendencies. There is no doubt about her end game. Then the British arrive. Nicholas Farrell is a conscience stricken, morally tormented, Tony Blair, though not according to his former Foriegn Secretary Robin Cook. Blair according to him, was very belligerent and on March 9 2003 refused Bush’s offer to drop out of the Iraqi adventure and seven days later brushed aside Jack Straw’s advice to just offer moral support. The large cast, from Euan Cooper as Hans Blix, and Nick Samson as Dominique de Vellpin, the French foreign minister, are excellent. All of them sustain the pace of those deadly days. Stuff Happens, a Rumsfeld phrase to explain disorder from the ungrateful liberated Iraqis, is, in the main, a fair and accurate record of the momentous decision taken by the “industrial, military complex”. The abject following of Tony Blair to his friend Bush cannot be glossed over. The light of truth was not as bright as it might have been. There was no toning bell about what is next on the agenda. As the last actor, an Iraqi, leaves the stage, he reflects “we know 1,000 American servicemen have died, 80 UK soldiers, but no one seems to mourn for the 20,000 Iraqi men, women and children”. The gauntlet was not thrown down by Sir David, a Blairite. Blair’s party conference will hear no distant drum. Fear now is the ruling principle of power politics and this is demonstrated with chilling effect in Stuff Happens 020 7452 3000 Until November 6 |
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