Staying true to its title, Singaporean playwright, Joel Tan’s ‘No Particular Order’ presents fragmentary vignettes of a society set within different time periods, connected by the themes of destructive legacies of power, self-sabotage and hierarchical disorder.

Political rancour spreads throughout an unnamed society leading to an irreversible war when an unknown despot assumes power. The play presents supercuts of different characters and situations (played by a superb ensemble cast – Daniel York Loh is devastatingly good) but keeps the thread of socio-political reckoning and loss of freedom alive. We begin with the despot’s grand victory-styled parade where pigeons must be killed so he can pass, then jumps to scenes of protests, fights, activist parties, parents grieving fallen children, fighters in refuge and dying on the battlefield. In a critique of the aftermath of familiar autocratic power struggles, we fast-forward 30 years later where the society mourns its losses and tries to make amends through controversial art, education and even frivolous fashion trends; then, 300 years later, extra-terrestrial life forms examine a wounded body, reminiscent of the homo sapien.

The despot, nor the conflict, is barely referenced, but the aftermath is textured and detailed, magnifying human grief and gore: heartbroken parents, starving citizens, romantic activists, ideological soldiers, refugees, teachers, artists – all represent the face of the war rather than the despot that caused it. Director Joshua Roche focuses on the timeless dilemmas that plague the human condition and Tan’s dialogue is realistic and raw. They brilliantly analyse the conflicting methods people use to honour, remember and prevent political upheavals.

The minimalist set design by Ingrid Hu, with its billowing black and white curtains, compliment Clare O’Donoghue’s atmospheric projections onto them, and allow for the seamless flow of scenes that portray vastly different settings, while Sarah Sayeed’s broodingly apocalyptic sound design brings it all together. As Ukraine and many parts of the global South are subsumed in war, this pivotal piece of socio-political art is a timely herald to a new dawn of thinking, of perhaps re-evaluating the futility of politically motivated division and wars.

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