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

A 1000-year-old statue of the Boddhisattva Guan Yin 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. Guan Yin’s gaze falls over the broken shards of human life from empires old and new.

Scenes from a Repatriation questions who can claim cultural artefacts – and why.  Joel Tan‘s shape-shifting play unfolds the statue’s journey from China to Britain and back again, stirring up centuries of ghosts. Scenes from a Repatriation is a Royal Court Theatre commission, directed by experimental theatre-makers emma + pj (Ghosts of the Near Future, Barbican), the collaboration between theatre makers Emma Clark and PJ Stanley. 

The play stars Kaja Chan, Aidan Cheng, Jon Chew, Fiona Hampton, Robin Khor Yong Kuan and Sky Yang. Scenes from a Repatriation is designed by TK Hay, with lighting design by Alex Fernandes, sound design by Patch Middleton and the movement director is Ken Nakajima. The casting director is Jatinder Chera, and the assistant designer is Yijing Chen

The production runs from Friday 25th April 2025, until Saturday 24th May 2025 for tickets and further information, please go to the Royal Court website.

Rehearsal Images (c) Alex Brenner