No Particular Order

A despot has come to power. The population is listless, submissive and scared.

But beneath every violation of civil autonomy, there are real human beings; behind every act of resistance, there is an individual willing to risk everything. And these people aren't heroic or remarkable – they're just like us.

Through the lives of bureaucrats, soldiers, ornithologists and tour guides, No Particular Order charts the fate of a single society, asking at every step of the way: is it empathy, or power, that endures?

Joel Tan's startling and apocalyptic play No Particular Order was shortlisted for the Theatre503 International Playwriting Award, and opened at Theatre503, London, in May 2022, directed by Josh Roche.

'Joel Tan is a fiery new talent... highlights just how boringly safe and naturalistic most theatre remains'— Evening Standard

'A mosaic portrait of a society in collapse, with a spine of bitterly dark comedy'— Broadway World

“"Joel Tan is a fiery new talent... highlights just how boringly safe and naturalistic most theatre remains." --Evening Standard "A mosaic portrait of a society in collapse, with a spine of bitterly dark comedy." --Broadway World”

'Joel Tan is a fiery new talent... highlights just how boringly safe and naturalistic most theatre remains'

'A mosaic portrait of a society in collapse, with a spine of bitterly dark comedy'

Joel Tan is a Singaporean playwright based between London and Singapore.In Singapore, his plays have been produced by leading theatre companies like Checkpoint Theatre, Wild Rice, and Pangdemonium, and several are available in a collection, Joel Tan Plays Volume 1, published by Checkpoint Theatre.Recent work in the UK includes: Scenes from a Repatriation (Royal Court Theatre Upstairs, 2025); No Particular Order (Theatre 503, London, 2022); When The Daffodils (Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond, 2021); Living Newspaper with the Royal Court Theatre; Overheard, and Augmented Chinatown with Chinese Arts Now.His play Love in the Time of the Ancients was a finalist for the 2019 Papatango Prize, and No Particular Order was shortlisted for Theatre 503's 2018 Playwriting Award.

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