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Michael Kustow welcomes Stuff Happens, David Hare's ambitious new play about Iraq, and Britain's current renaissance in political theatre
Stuff Happens, David Hare's large-scale, self-styled ‘history play' about the events leading up to the war in Iraq, is the latest in a series of plays to have inspired frenzied discussion in British theatrical and critical circles about the upsurge of political theatre in this country. Before evaluating Hare's play, currently being performed on the National Theatre's Olivier stage - the most central public stage we have in the UK, it would be worthwhile looking at the currents of political theatre that have preceded it.
First, there is what used to be called ‘theatre of fact': drama based on recorded testimony and gathered evidence.