Scenes from a Repatriation
Paperback, 128 pages ISBN: 9781839044243Publication Date:
8 May 2025
Size: 198mm x 129mm£11.99 £9.59You save £2.40 (20%)
Ebook, 128 pages ISBN: 9781788508742Publication Date:
8 May 2025
£11.99 £9.59You save £2.40 (20%)
First Staged:
Royal Court Theatre, London, 2025

Scenes from a Repatriation

By Joel Tan

Paperback £11.99£9.59

Ebook £11.99£9.59

Available soon
On Stage at:
Royal Court Theatre (Upstairs), London
From Fri 25 Apr 2025 to Sat 24 May 2025

A thousand-year-old statue of the Bodhisattva Guanyin lives in the British Museum. When it emerges that the statue was stolen from its original home, the museum attempts to deflect both the public response and controversial repatriation claims from the Chinese government.

As statesmen scheme and grease their palms, beneath the statue, witches dance, a cleaner prays, and spirits weep.

Joel Tan's daring, shape-shifting play unfolds the statue's journey from China to Britain and back again, stirring up age-old ghosts and asking who can claim cultural artefacts – and why?

Scenes from a Repatriation was first performed at the Royal Court Theatre, London, in 2025, directed by experimental theatre-makers emma + pj.

Textual Note: For the Royal Court production, Part Two: Scenes 1 and 2 were translated into Chinese. Part Two: Scene 1 was performed in Mandarin and Cantonese, while Part Two: Scene 2 was ultimately performed in English. A PDF document containing translations of these scenes is available to download below.

'All of human history? It's basically people taking things from each other.'

Press Quotes

'Bold and profound... Tan has written a play that feels at once sweeping in scope and completely nuanced. Told with biting satire and extraordinary personal depth, it establishes him as one of the most daring playwrights working today'

London Theatre

'Playful, enjoyable and ambitious'

Time Out

'Ambitious, unusual and challenging... a play that shifts and swerves, its multiple scenes switching location, its perspectives and arguments moving like water... Tan brings considerable subtlety and passion to his examination of the questions of repatriation'

WhatsOnStage
Paperback,128 pages ISBN: 9781839044243Publication Date:
8 May 2025
Size: 198mm x 129mm£11.99 £9.59You save £2.40 (20%)
Ebook,128 pages ISBN: 9781788508742Publication Date:
8 May 2025
£11.99 £9.59You save £2.40 (20%)
Available Soon

Also by Joel Tan:

Inside/Outside
When the Daffodils
No Particular Order

Go to author page...

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