NT : What's On : Productions : Stuff Happens
Stuff Happens
a new play by David Hare
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.The American Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld's famous response to the looting of Baghdad, at a press conference of 11 April 2003, provides the title for a new play, specially written for the Olivier Theatre, about the extraordinary process leading up to the invasion of Iraq.
How does the world settle its differences, now there is only one superpower? What happens to leaders risking their credibility with sceptical publics? From events which have dominated international headlines for the last two years David Hare has fashioned both a historical narrative and a human drama about the frustrations of power and the limits of diplomacy.
This is David Hare's thirteenth play for the National, and has been developed with the support of the NT Studio.
Cast credits:
Condoleezza Rice : Adjoa Andoh
Dick Cheney : Desmond Barrit
Laura Bush, New Labour Politician, Bereaved Mother : Isla Blair
Donald Rumsfeld : Dermot Crowley
Paul O’Neill, Jean-David Levitte : Tim Donoghue
Sir Richard Dearlove : Robert East
Tony Blair : Nicholas Farrell
Alistair Campbell, David Kay, Ivanov, Robin Cook : Don Gallagher
Paul Wolfowitz : Ian Gelder
Palestinian Academic : Raeda Ghazaleh
Hans Blix : Ewan Hooper
George W. Bush : Alex Jennings
Jeremy Greenstock : Alan Leith
Spook, Lavrov : Kevork Malikyan
Jack Straw, Brit in NY : Iain Mitchell
Colin Powell : Joe Morton
FO Official : Sara Powell
George Tenet, J Negroponte, Maurice Gourdalt-Montagne : Philip Quast
Iraqi Exile : Raad Rawi
Dominque De Villepin, Jonathan Powell : Nick Sampson
Kofi Annan : Larrington Walker
Angry British Journalist, David Manning : Angus Wright
all other parts played by members of the company :
Production credits:
Director : Nicholas Hytner
Designer: Christopher Oram
Lighting Designer: Paul Anderson
Sound Designer: Paul Groothuis
Associate Director: Matt Wilde
photo (Donald Rumsfeld and George W Bush) Getty Images
Stuff Happens finished on: 6 November 2004
