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"Stuff Happens": The Iraq War as History Play (NPR)

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Up2Late Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jun-30-05 12:40 PM
Original message
"Stuff Happens": The Iraq War as History Play (NPR)
I wasn't sure if this qualified as LBN or where it belonged, but it sure came as Good News to me.)

'Stuff Happens': The Iraq War as History Play


Listen to this story (on-line at the link above}

by Ina Jaffe

Morning Edition, June 30, 2005 · Stuff Happens, the controversial British play about the lead-up to the Iraq war, is finally enjoying its American debut in Los Angeles. The David Hare play chronicles the tangled diplomatic maneuvers leading up to the war -- and hints broadly that President Bush and his top advisers intended to invade Iraq even before the Sept. 11 attacks.

The play takes its title from a remark made by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld when he was asked to comment on the looting in Iraq following the fall of Baghdad. "Stuff happens," he told reporters.

All the main players are here -- Bush, Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Condoleezza Rice, Colin Powell -- and in many cases, the actual words those real-life leaders said in public statements are part of the dialogue.

The scenes that take place behind closed doors, however, are the work of Hare's imagination. Hare says he spoke confidentially to dozens of people involved in the events he portrays, and some scenes echo the recently uncovered "Downing Street Memo," which suggests the Bush administration decided to invade Iraq long before it publicly acknowledged any decision had been made, and even while efforts were being made at the United Nations to preclude a war.

<http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4724084>
(more at link above, plus Photos and On-line audio)
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Beaverhausen Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jun-30-05 12:43 PM
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1. I'm hoping to go see this soon.
A co worker told me it's a great play. I asked her if it would just make me MORE angry. She told me to just GO SEE IT!
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Up2Late Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jun-30-05 12:49 PM
Response to Reply #1
2. Any word if or when it will move East?
I sounds great!
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Beaverhausen Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jun-30-05 12:56 PM
Response to Reply #2
3. Don't know
http://www.taperahmanson.com/show.asp?id=297

maybe some info on the show links at the bottom of this page. They are in adobe so I won't link them here.
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Up2Late Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jun-30-05 01:32 PM
Response to Reply #3
5. Thanks, I'm glad they put this quote on the website
"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.” -- Donald Rumsfeld, US Secretary of Defense, April 11, 2003, when asked to comment on the widespread looting of Baghdad.

It makes you wonder, which "Free People" he was he referring to?
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faithnotgreed Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jun-30-05 01:07 PM
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4. thank you david hare! would love to see it here in dc
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Up2Late Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jun-30-05 01:37 PM
Response to Original message
6. Here's the show run dates in L.A.
Stuff Happens
Wednesday, May 25 to Sunday, July 17

"Stuff Happens." That's what Donald Rumsfeld said at a 2003 press conference in response to a questions about the looting of Baghdad. STUFF HAPPENS is a history play of our very, very recent history. Its subject is the background of what led us to the Iraq war, the series of events that led to the conflict, and the parts played by world leaders. A company of 22 actors will portray 96 different characters, bringing to life a look from the inside at the workings of an inner circle that shaped world history.
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Up2Late Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jun-30-05 02:08 PM
Response to Reply #6
7. Oh, and here are the pdf files, great "background" info
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