The Humans

The Humans follows an unnamed alien sent to Earth to stop what his kind see as a threat from human progress. Inhabiting the body of Professor Andrew Martin, a Cambridge mathematician, he must pass as him among his family and colleagues, and in doing so experiences the flaws, contradictions and capacity for compassion that make people human. The play is a world premiere and the first stage adaptation of Matt Haig's novel.

Matt Smith, known for Doctor Who, The Crown and House of the Dragon, plays the alien; his stage work includes Lungs at The Old Vic and An Enemy of the People in the West End. The adaptation is by Jack Thorne, writer of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and the television series Adolescence, and the director is Jeremy Herrin, whose credits include Wolf Hall, Bring Up the Bodies and People, Places and Things. A darkly funny, philosophical story about what it means to be alive, it is a chance to see Matt Smith in a new play during a strictly limited West End season.