No Particular Order (NHB Modern Plays)

By Joel Tan

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.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Nick Hern Books
• Release date: Jun 9, 2022
• ISBN: 9781788505802

Joel Tan

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: 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.