THE TITLE
Sir David Hare's latest political drama - developed earlier in 2004 during workshops in the National Theatre's studio - takes its title from a throwaway line from the US defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, explaining the looting in Baghdad. ("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.").
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.

THE STORY
The starting point for the play was a letter sent to the then US president Bill Clinton in January 1998, in which the neo-conservative group 'Project for a New American Century' urged the adoption of a new strategy "that would secure the interests of the US and our friends and allies around the world." The 40 signatories, who included Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, wrote "That strategy should aim, above all, at the removal of Saddam Hussein's regime from power... That needs to become the aim of American foreign policy." On March 20th 2003 a coalition led by the United States and Great Britain began military operations to depose Saddam Hussein.

THE AUTHOR
Interview with David Hare (Front Row, BBC Radio 4, January 2008)
Sir David Hare's profile (The Guardian, February 2004)
Sir David Hare interviewed by John Tusa on BBC Radio (scroll down the alphabetical list)