Review: Burning Coal's Well-Timed Historical Drama STUFF HAPPENS is the Right Play for Right Now

On April 11, 2003, just two days after the fall of Saddam Hussein, then Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, along with General Richard B. Myers, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, addressed the media. When asked about the looting and the lack of law and order following the "liberation" of Iraq, Rumsfeld said:

"Think what's happened in our cities when we've had riots and problems and looting. Stuff happens! Freedom's untidy, and free people are free to make mistakes and commit crimes and do bad things. They're also free to live their lives and do wonderful things, and that's what's going to happen here."

The backroom deals and politics leading up to the invasion of Iraq are the subject of David Hare's historical drama STUFF HAPPENS. The play premiered in London in 2004. Two years later, it opened off-Broadway to critical acclaim. Last weekend, Burning Coal Theatre opened their season with Hare's play, which by his own account, is a fictional dramatization based on interviews, televised speeches, and transcripts.

Since all the principal characters are based on real people, the challenge is to portray those familiar faces authentically and not simply as caricatures or the subjects of political cartoons. And the strong ensemble cast, led by Michael Babbitt (George W. Bush), Matthew Baldiga (Tony Blair), Rob Jenkins (Dick Cheney), Byron Jennings (Colin Powell) Brook North (Donald Rumsfeld), Tyanna West (Condoleezza Rice) and Julie Oliver (George Tenet), do just that. They deliver fleshed out, pragmatic representations of the political insiders and pawns behind the headlines, a testament not only to the skillful cast but also to Lillian White's fine direction.

Hare's smart script also shines a light on the rhetoric that defined the "war on terror" from the pithy one-liners to the made-for-TV soundbites that were used over and over again to drum up support. These bits became part of our country's vernacular and still are. Unfortunately, some of the sound effects used in this production are too loud and superfluously garble the speech, drowning out some of these pivotal moments. The content of these speeches will not be lost on those of us old enough to remember them but may be missed by younger audiences, particularly those who were mere babes in 2003 and are now old enough to vote in their first election. They are the ones who, in my opinion as a mother of a 19-year-old, need to see this play. This is a teachable moment for them since the takeaways from Hare's work are seldom taught in textbooks.

We all know how this story ends. There were no weapons of mass destruction found in Iraq. But Hare's thought-provoking play forces the audience to question the propaganda machine driven by the Bush/Cheney agenda then that eerily mirrors Washington politics now. It's a well-timed historical snapshot that will haunt audiences long after the final bows.

STUFF HAPPENS runs through October 28th. For more information, visit: https://burningcoal.org/stuff-happens/.

Photo by Aereon Mobasher.

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