@article{ART003373032},
author={Yerin Eun and Wonjung Sohn},
title={Critical Witnessing in Verbatim Theatre: David Hare’s Stuff Happens and the Discourse of the Iraq War},
journal={Journal of Modern English Drama},
issn={1226-3397},
year={2026},
volume={39},
number={2},
pages={79-112}
TY - JOUR
AU - Yerin Eun
AU - Wonjung Sohn
TI - Critical Witnessing in Verbatim Theatre: David Hare’s Stuff Happens and the Discourse of the Iraq War
JO - Journal of Modern English Drama
PY - 2026
VL - 39
IS - 2
PB - 한국현대영미드라마학회
SP - 79
EP - 112
SN - 1226-3397
AB - This article examines how verbatim theatre functions as a critical witness by exposing the limitations of journalism during the Iraq War. Journalism is expected to provide balanced reporting and to monitor political power; yet mainstream American media largely failed to critically scrutinize the Bush administration’s justification for the war, tending instead to reproduce official narratives. It is precisely in this gap—between journalism’s expected role and its actual failure—that verbatim theatre found its occasion to emerge as an alternative mode of public testimony.
Focusing on David Hare’s Stuff Happens (2004), this study analyzes how the play reconstructs the political process through interviews, public records, speeches, and dramatized scenes. Rather than claiming objective neutrality, Hare openly acknowledges the playwright’s editorial intervention. It is precisely through this acknowledged intervention that verbatim material reveals what official discourse conceals—its contradictions and uncertainties. This becomes evident in the play’s deliberate arrangement of scenes: the emotional rhetoric that followed the September 11 attacks, the uncertain intelligence concerning weapons of mass destruction, and the arbitrary logic underlying political decision-making are set side by side, so that the process by which the Iraq War was legitimized despite insufficient evidence is laid bare for the audience to trace.
This article argues that Stuff Happens positions verbatim theatre as a form of critical witnessing. Rather than replacing journalism, it critically examines journalism’s limitations by revealing how official political discourse was produced, circulated, and legitimized.. In doing so, verbatim theatre demonstrates its distinctive social function as a form of critical witnessing, enabling audiences to reconsider the relationship between political power, media representation, and historical truth.
KW - Verbatim Theatre;David Hare;Stuff Happens;Critical Witness;Iraq War;Journalism
DO -
UR -
ER -
Yerin Eun and Wonjung Sohn. (2026). Critical Witnessing in Verbatim Theatre: David Hare’s Stuff Happens and the Discourse of the Iraq War. Journal of Modern English Drama, 39(2), 79-112.
Yerin Eun and Wonjung Sohn. 2026, "Critical Witnessing in Verbatim Theatre: David Hare’s Stuff Happens and the Discourse of the Iraq War", Journal of Modern English Drama, vol.39, no.2 pp.79-112.
Yerin Eun, Wonjung Sohn "Critical Witnessing in Verbatim Theatre: David Hare’s Stuff Happens and the Discourse of the Iraq War" Journal of Modern English Drama 39.2 pp.79-112 (2026) : 79.
Yerin Eun, Wonjung Sohn. Critical Witnessing in Verbatim Theatre: David Hare’s Stuff Happens and the Discourse of the Iraq War. 2026; 39(2), 79-112.
Yerin Eun and Wonjung Sohn. "Critical Witnessing in Verbatim Theatre: David Hare’s Stuff Happens and the Discourse of the Iraq War" Journal of Modern English Drama 39, no.2 (2026) : 79-112.
Yerin Eun; Wonjung Sohn. Critical Witnessing in Verbatim Theatre: David Hare’s Stuff Happens and the Discourse of the Iraq War. Journal of Modern English Drama, 39(2), 79-112.
Yerin Eun; Wonjung Sohn. Critical Witnessing in Verbatim Theatre: David Hare’s Stuff Happens and the Discourse of the Iraq War. Journal of Modern English Drama. 2026; 39(2) 79-112.
Yerin Eun, Wonjung Sohn. Critical Witnessing in Verbatim Theatre: David Hare’s Stuff Happens and the Discourse of the Iraq War. 2026; 39(2), 79-112.
Yerin Eun and Wonjung Sohn. "Critical Witnessing in Verbatim Theatre: David Hare’s Stuff Happens and the Discourse of the Iraq War" Journal of Modern English Drama 39, no.2 (2026) : 79-112.
