:: The Certainty Of Chance ::

Are future actions predetermined? Can fate be manipulated to fulfil our own ends? These two unlikely questions popped up in my head as I sat in the theatre on Tuesday. Depending on your appreciation of the space-time continuum, the answer to the first question could be yes or no. But the second seems like some oxymoronic article of faith - the illogical extrapolation of an omnipotent God who advocates "Free Will" for humanity. Perhaps I've put my cards on the table too soon; my implicit judgement of George W. Bush's born-again Christianity is an immediate departure from the objective. Nonetheless, my quotation from the title of a chirpy Divine Comedy song requires explanation. Onto the play itself. Stuff Happens touches on areas which are so current as to push the play beyond theatre. This might appear to be hyperbolic praise, but rather refers to my hesitation at calling the piece a play at all. With a stark simply set and speeches quoted verbatim, I felt as if I were watching a combination of a documentary and Bremner, Bird & Fortune. In fact, I felt it contained considerably less of the "dramatic reconstruction" element than your average TV-doc. So the writer's skill must lie in the editing: this was more allied to photo-collage than a painting. We were led through a series of speeches (including Donald Rumsfeld’s remarks which gave the play its title) and offered precious little polemic.
My companions disliked the play for various reasons – some were put off by the political content (why the fuck did they come along?), but others, like me felt disillusioned at the apparent lack of authorial direction. This is an engaging digest of the political manoeuvring that led up to the Iraq war, the wheedling required to convince the queasy lily-livered detractors of the need to remove Saddam Hussein on grounds of human rights and (pre-emptive) self-defence. And above all, the knuckle-headed determination of one man to pursue his own agenda. Bush comes off better in this than one might have expected – his character, however objectionable, is the least equivocal and most faithful to its original purpose.
So, how would I rate it overall? In newspaper review-speak, I suppose 3 stars out of 5 would be fair enough. The set and some of the characterisations were brilliant, although I would have appreciated being somewhat closer to the action. My main quibbles are with the genre – and it was a tad too long at 3 hours.
Given the "controversial" nature of the play, Stuff Happens has been subject to a frenzy of reviews, both in the British Press and online. A selection of these is below:

Press:
Michael Billington in the Guardian.
Kate Bassett in the Independent.
Robert Hanks also in the Independent.
Benedict Nightingale in the Times.
Neil Ascherson in the Observer.

Online:
Brian Clover on Curtain Up
Alan Bird on London Theatre Guide
Peter Hepple on The Stage's site.
Ray Bennett on Yahoo News

Afraid I've got to dash, so frivolity will have to wait till Monday.