Prof Alice Roberts: From Cell to Civilisation – Matinee 🧬🎭
Who are we? Where do we come from? What does it mean to be human? In this new theatrical production, Professor Alice Roberts blends archaeology, evolutionary biology and genetics to trace the story of us — not just back to the dawn of our own species, but to the origin of life on this planet, some four billion years ago. Following the journey out of Africa into Asia, along the Indian coastline to Australia and north into Europe and Siberia, the show meets other human species along the way and examines the sophistication of the earliest civilisations. Staged with theatrical sound, light, props, commissioned content and a full set design, this is far from a standard talk.
What to expect:
🧬 Four billion years in one afternoon — A sweeping narrative from the first spark of life 3.8 billion years ago, through human evolution and migration, to the rise of the earliest civilisations
🎭 A high-production stage show — Not a lecture but a fully staged production, with props, set design, commissioned content and theatrical sound and lighting bringing the science to life
🦴 The evidence behind the story — How we know what we know, from archaeology and genetics to evolutionary biology, and what the science can tell us about our place in the world