In 1949, scientist and mathematician Dr Jacob Bronowski installs a hidden, locked room in his house.

Fifty years later, his grandson discovers the secrets contained in the room, unearthing echoes from across six million years of human history.

David Byrne's play Secret Life of Humans was first seen during a sell-out, award-winning run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2017. It had its London premiere at New Diorama in April 2018, ahead of transferring Off-Broadway.

David Byrne is a playwright and director. His other plays include a radical new version of George Orwell’s Down and Out in Paris and London.

'Ambitious, intelligent and moving... unfolds with thriller-like precision with real visual flair'

'Bold, beautiful and utterly absorbing theatre, finding the thrilling drama inherent in the human story. It takes your breath away'

'Presented with brilliant imagination... strikingly accomplished, absorbing and enjoyable'

'A masterpiece...mesermising to watch. Nothing less than a theatrical triumph'

David Byrne is a playwright and theatre director, and the Artistic Director Designate of the Royal Court Theatre, London, where he will take over from Vicky Featherstone in 2024. He is the founding Artistic Director and CEO of the New Diorama Theatre, one of London's most vibrant new work theatres. His plays include The Incident Room, written with Olivia Hirst (Edinburgh Festival Fringe, 2019; New Diorama Theatre, London, 2020); Secret Life of Humans (Edinburgh Festival Fringe, 2017; New Diorama Theatre, 2018); and an adaptation of George Orwell's Down and Out in Paris and London (Edinburgh Festival Fringe, 2015; New Diorama Theatre, 2016). Author photo by Tom Jamieson