David Hare'in "Stuff Happens"ı: Alternatif Bir Irak Savaşı Anlatısı

Abstract

In the 20th century postmodernism has fundamentally altered the approach to the concept of history. Showing that grand narratives can be reversed by minor narratives, Jean-François Lyotard played a great role in the development of postmodernism. The purpose of this article is to analyse how the dramatic techniques used in David Hare’s play Stuff Happens in line with Lyotard’s take deconstruct grand narratives about Iraq War at the beginning of the 21st century. By manipulating verbatim theatre techniques, the play asserts that historical reality must always be perceived through a sceptical perspective. Setting the political verbatim accounts, therefore the grand narratives, with unheard minor voices/narratives, Hare, both unearths the discrepancies of political reality and stresses that every narrative is fictional. In this respect, as a postmodern text, Stuff Happens rejects construction of grand narratives by drawing attention to alternative realities and demonstrates that political grand narratives cannot be unique realities.