Stuff Happens

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Scene 17: Iraq inspectors commit to produce a full description of their chemical facilities. Saddam won't admit that he has the deadly weapons that the UN are looking for. There is controversy in Britain because some people believe that the Britain should be able to help the U.S. and some say that they should wait. Blair has no idea what his further actions are because Saddam wasn't any help and Blair has to keep calling Bush. [2] The real figures make the familiar statements, but there are also some (believable) behind-the-scenes recreations. David Hare's Stuff Happens has already become a chewed-over public event. But, after attending its Olivier press night, it also strikes me as a very good, totally compelling play: one that may not contain a vast amount of new information but that traces the origins of the Iraq war, puts it in perspective and at the same time astutely analyses the American body politic. (...) Hare avoids the trap of agitprop by cannily subverting the play's anti-war bias. (...) One comes out enriched and better informed." - Michael Billington, The Guardian

By putting you, rather than some dream of minimalism, at the heart of the process Emma explains that it's natural to have stuff and easier than you think to stop it getting out of control. Filled with aha moments from Emma's and her clients' lives, Stuff Happens! will transform your space, headspace and your relationship with stuff FOREVER! Premiering at the National Theatre, London, in 2004 STUFF HAPPENS has since been performed around the world including at Los Angeles’ Mark Taper Forum in 2005 and at Sydney’s Seymour Center also in 2005.But in terms of what's going on in that country, it is a fundamental misunderstanding to see those images over and over and over again of some buy walking out with a vase and say, 'Oh, my goodness, you didn't have a plan.' People are really going through some stuff a lot of the time. You need a while to recover from each person’s story.” NICHOLAS DE JONGH for THE EVENING STANDARD says, "A beautifully staged and acted production." MICHAEL BILLINGTON for THE GUARDIAN says, "A very good, totally compelling play." NEAL ASCHERSON for THE OBSERVER says, "Gives us plenty to think about but not enough to stir the emotions." BENEDICT NIGHTINGALE for THE TIMES says, "The dramatist has had the gall to raise serious doubts about the wisdom and honesty of both the Coalition's leaders....a play that strikes me as hard-hitting, yet balanced enough...." When it comes to clothing relationship counselling, Emma outlines a host of gentle processes that will help you ascertain whether you want to keep certain items of clothing or if it is time to say goodbye, from rotating your wardrobe to Irish stylist Annmarie O’Connor’s ‘body scan’. Stuff Happens is a play by David Hare, written in response to the Iraq war during the Bush administration. It talks about the events that led to the war on Iraq in 2003, which ps from George Bush’s election in 2000 up till his stepping down from office in 2008. The title is inspired by Donald Rumsfeld’s response to journalists about the looting happening in Baghdad where he replied “Stuff Happens”. The writer already states in the authors note that it is “knowingly true” but he had to use his imagination in parts that were not covered especially when the politicians were behind closed doors.

Hare presumably didn't have space for it here, but the corruption of Powell -- and how else can one term it ? -- is among the interesting stories that remain to be told.) We have internalised a narrative around clothing that if an item doesn’t fit or suit, your body is wrong for the clothes. Practise repeating that it’s the clothes that are wrong for your body, not the other way around. They are regularly opposed by one of the few genuinely nice people sighted at any point during the three hours. Colin Powell, as the writer is at pains to make clear, is almost unique in that he understands war from the sharp end. He is also both thorough and decent, which ill befits a man in his position.

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Condoleezza Rice, nicely played by Adjoa Andoh, calmly schemes, all the time aided by Paul Wolfowitz, Ian Gelder and Dermot Crowley's Donald Rumsfeld. Hare, in fact, constantly creates a form of internal dialectic. The play ruthlessly exposes the dubious premises on which the war was fought. At the same time, it questions our complacency by reminding us of the pro-war arguments. A New Labour politician - possibly not a million miles from Ann Clwyd - admits that the supposed weapons turned out not to exist and that a military victory was compromised by sloppy Pentagon planning for peace. "At the same time," she argues, "a dictator was removed." This advice isn’t about denying yourself anything,” she declares. “It’s about being more mindful in your shopping. It’s about enhancing your enjoyment around it. Sustainability has been framed within the language of deprivation for so long; what I’m saying is, ‘I’m trying to make you enjoy your life more’.” If items need to be fixed, place them in an easily reachable area near the front door and schedule a time to make the repair happen. Emma’s sustainability wake-up call came very early on in her career, when she moved to London during her 20s to study at the London College of Fashion and her Masters thesis looked at the psychology of over-consumption. Passionate about educating people on the benefits of buying less and buying better, she's an expert on sustainable consumerism and ethical fashion. Emma Gleeson, author of the decluttering guide Stuff Happens! Pic: Supplied

Ned's worst fears are confirmed when he ends up in the class with the worst teacher in the school, possibly the world, away from his best mates. Things don't improve when the teacher seems to have adored both Ned's older siblings – how will he survive the day, let alone the whole year? Yes, the things people feel guilty about,” she says. “Money spent on things that aren’t used, and inherited items that are unwanted. The reasons behind the guilt are likely universal.” One of the first beliefs that Gleeson is keen to debunk is the charity shop as a panacea for a cluttered space.

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Scene 12: The NSC reassembles and Cheney says that the story should be known as the “Crisis at the UN” so that it is no longer about America's wrongdoing but instead makes it about the UN and whether they can deliver or not. [2]

Getting started on the practicalities of a decluttering project should always mean starting small, says Gleeson. David Hare has named his play after the famous remark made by Rumsfeld in which he dismissed the chaos caused by the looting in Iraq immediately after the invasion with a shrug of the shoulders and the comment "Stuff Happens". Hare gives the final comment to an Iraqi who asks "Who is counting the Iraqi dead?" That is a question we in the West would prefer not to be answered!! The title is taken from Donald Rumsfeld's infamous comments made shortly after the fall of Baghdad in the spring of 2003.

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Stuff Happens! Manage Your Clutter, Clear Your Head and Discover What’s Really Important by Emma Gleeson is published by Penguin/Sandycove Stuff Happens premiered at the National Theatre, London, in 2004 season and has subsequently been performed around the world. Hare's other key means of creating conflict is to view Colin Powell as a stern realist in a Bush war cabinet made up of deluded fantasists. In a big showdown with Bush, based on documented facts, Powell passionately presses the case for treating war as a last resort after diplomacy has been exhausted. In the play's best line, he points out the hypocrisy of American attitudes. "People keep asking," he says of Saddam, "how do we know he's got weapons of mass destruction? How do we know? Because we've still got the receipts." Hare certainly makes Colin Powell a more heroic figure than he deserves to be; a voice of wisdom and restraint, Hare ultimately can't completely reconcile what he's built up with Powell's complicity in events, especially in the infamous and outrageous speech before the United Nations that ultimately destroyed any credibility he may have had left. Critics of the war, he writes, accused the Bush administration of lying, compiling "a small string of comments – ill-chosen or otherwise deficient – to try to depict the administration as purposefully misrepresenting the intelligence."