Derren Brown: Only Human Tickets in London at the Apollo Theatre
Derren Brown brings Only Human to the Apollo Theatre from 10 October 2026 to 30 January 2027, fresh from a sold-out UK and Ireland tour. His eleventh West End run, and in his usual style we can tell you it is astonishing without telling you why: the less you know walking in, the better the night.
All-in: the price you pick is the price you pay.
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Who's Only Human For?
- Anyone who has seen Derren Brown live before. He's a once in a generation talent.
- Anyone who never has: a first Derren Brown show is one of the great West End experiences, and Only Human is getting great reviews around the country.
- Sceptics. He tells you he is fooling you, then fools you anyway; the harder you resist, the better it gets. Annoying but true.
- Groups and families with teens (12+).
- Not for anyone who wants to sit back and be left alone entirely; this is a show built with its audience, though nobody is ever forced to take part.
- Also, if you hate magic, then it's best to avoid.
About Only Human at the Apollo Theatre
Only Human is Derren Brown's new stage show, written with his long-time collaborators Andrew O'Connor and Stephen Long, and it arrives in London after a sold-out tour of the UK and Ireland. Brown is a two-time Olivier Award winner and this is his eleventh West End show.
What is it? Mind-reading, psychological illusion and storytelling, woven into an evening about what it means to be human: what we notice, what we believe, and how much of both can be nudged. Beyond that, we are saying nothing, and that is deliberate. Half the joy of a Derren Brown show is meeting it fresh, and his audiences traditionally leave keeping the secrets.
The facts: around 2 hours 30 minutes including an interval, recommended for ages 12 and over, playing at the Apollo Theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue until 30 January 2027, a strictly limited season. Audience participation runs through the evening, always voluntary.
What's Only Human About?
Being human, mostly: how we make choices, what we believe about ourselves, and how confidently we can be wrong about both. Brown frames the evening around ideas rather than tricks-for-tricks'-sake, and reviewers on tour described something closer to an experience than a magic set: part illusion show, part social experiment.
That is as far as we will go. We keep spoilers off this page on principle, and if you ask us about the show on the phone, we will be just as unhelpful about the good bits.
Performance Schedule
Only Human plays Tuesday to Saturday evenings at 7:30pm, with matinees on Saturday at 2:30pm and Sunday at 3pm. There is no performance on Mondays.
| Day | Matinee | Evening |
|---|---|---|
| Monday | - | - |
| Tuesday | - | 7:30pm |
| Wednesday | - | 7:30pm |
| Thursday | - | 7:30pm |
| Friday | - | 7:30pm |
| Saturday | 2:30pm | 7:30pm |
| Sunday | 3pm | - |
The season runs from 10 October 2026 to 30 January 2027. Christmas and New Year weeks vary from the standard pattern, so check the calendar for December and January dates when you book.
Best Seats for Only Human
For a magic show, where you sit changes more than the view: it changes your odds of being part of it.
The quick version:
- Front and middle Stalls: the best seats for this show. Closest to the action, and the most chance of some interaction with Derren himself.
- Dress Circle: also very good, with a clear elevated view of everything.
- Grand Circle and Balcony: you see the show perfectly well, but you are higher up and much less likely to find yourself part of it.
- Think twice about: the small block at the back of the Stalls, sold cheaper but a little cut off from the atmosphere and under the overhang from the level above, which does affect the view, and the rear of the Dress Circle's middle block, which sits further back than you might expect. Both are slightly restricted view.
Boxes are not on sale for this show. For the full detail, see the Tickets & Best Seats tab, or call us on 020 7193 9050 for a steer.
Cast and Creative Team
This is Derren Brown's show from first to last: writer, performer, and the reason the room is full. Two Olivier Awards, eleven West End shows and two decades of television have made him the most famous psychological illusionist in the country.
His full story, and the team behind the show, are in the Cast & Creatives tab.
Book Your Only Human Tickets
Book your Derren Brown: Only Human tickets directly with us at Hit The Theatre. Our prices are all-in, so the price on the seating map is exactly what you pay at checkout. Choose your own seats online, or call us on 020 7193 9050 and a real person will help you pick the right spot, close for the chance of taking part, or further back to watch it all unfold. A limited season plus a name this big means the best dates go early.
Dates & tickets
FAQs
Prices run from around £25 up to around £85, with premium seats from £95; weekend performances are priced slightly higher. Whatever the price on the seating map, that is exactly what you pay with us, with nothing added at checkout.
Front and middle Stalls, and there is no pressure to get up on stage if you are picked. Tickets and Best Seats has the level-by-level version, including which seats to avoid. Tell us your budget on 020 7193 9050 and we will find the best of what is left for your date.
About 2 hours 30 minutes, including an interval. Evening shows start at 7:30pm, so you are out around 10pm.
We are not going to tell you, and we mean that kindly. It is mind-reading, psychological illusion and storytelling built around what it means to be human, and the less you know beyond that, the better your night. Derren's audiences traditionally keep the secrets, and so do we.
Only if you want to be. Participation runs through the evening but it is voluntary; nobody is forced up, and reviewers on tour noted how respectfully participants are treated. If you would rather watch, sit higher up; if you want the chance, sit close.
No. Brown has always been clear that his shows use no stooges: the participants are genuine audience members. That is a large part of why the magic is even harder to believe.
The age guidance is 12 and over. There is nothing gory or explicit; it is grown-up in its ideas rather than its content, and teenagers tend to love working out how it was done.
Press night is 21 October 2026, so the London reviews land from that evening. The show toured the UK and Ireland first to a sold-out, warmly reviewed run; see the News & Reviews tab for what those critics said, spoiler-free.
The final performance is on 30 January 2027. It is a strictly limited season and his London runs sell strongly, so book early for weekends and the Christmas weeks.
Piccadilly Circus is 3 to 4 minutes on foot; Leicester Square is about 5. The theatre is on Shaftesbury Avenue in the heart of the West End.
Yes: a British Sign Language performance on Friday 11 December at 7:30pm and an audio-described performance on Friday 18 December at 7:30pm. Access bookings are handled by the venue's own access team via the venue's official site.
Yes. Call us on 020 7193 9050 and a real person will help you choose seats and book. Our prices are all-in, so the price on screen is the price you pay.
Yes, and this is a great group show; the debating afterwards is half the fun. Call us on 020 7193 9050 and we will find seats together at the best price for your party.
Best Seats for Only Human at the Apollo Theatre
A Derren Brown show changes the usual seat mathematics: closeness buys more than a view here, it buys the chance of being part of the evening. Our picks:
- Front and middle Stalls, rows D to K: the best in the theatre for this show. You are nearest the action, you catch every detail, and when participants are drawn from the audience, this is where the odds are best.
- Dress Circle: very good, with a clear, elevated view of the whole stage; a good choice if you want to see the shape of the evening laid out.
- Grand Circle and Balcony: the budget route, starting from around £25. You will follow everything, but the Apollo's upper levels sit high and steep, and you are much less likely to find yourself interacting with Derren.
Seats to think twice about:
- The small block at the back of the Stalls: sold cheaper, and there is a reason; it feels slightly estranged from the show. Pay the difference or go up a level.
- The middle of a long row, if you would rather not be picked. There are no aisles anywhere in the Apollo's Stalls: every row runs unbroken wall to wall, so getting out means going past everybody between you and the end. Sit near a row end if you want the choice.
- The rear of the Dress Circle's middle block: it extends further back than the rest of the level, and the value fades with it.
- Boxes: not on sale for this show.
Want the chance of being in it, or safely out of it? Call us on 020 7193 9050 and say which; a real person will seat you accordingly.
Seating plan
Dates & tickets
Booking now
Getting to the Apollo Theatre
The Apollo Theatre is on Shaftesbury Avenue, London W1D 7EZ, in the heart of the West End, moments from Piccadilly Circus.
- Nearest tube: Piccadilly Circus (Piccadilly and Bakerloo lines), about 3 to 4 minutes on foot. Leicester Square (Northern and Piccadilly) is around 5 minutes.
- Rail: Charing Cross is the nearest mainline station, about a 10-minute walk via Trafalgar Square; Victoria and Waterloo are a short tube hop.
- Buses: the 14, 19 and 38 run along Shaftesbury Avenue itself, with many more routes stopping around Piccadilly Circus, two minutes away.
- Driving: not recommended. The Congestion Charge and ULEZ both apply; the nearest car parks are the Q-Parks at Chinatown and Leicester Square.
Arrive 15 to 20 minutes before the performance, no later, so you have time for the bag check and to settle in; this is a show you do not want to walk into flustered.
The Auditorium at a Glance
The Apollo holds 844 across four levels: Stalls, Dress Circle, Grand Circle and Balcony. It is intimate for a show of this scale, which is exactly why this booking is special; nobody in the room is far from the stage. The upper levels sit high, worth knowing when you choose your seat (see Tickets & Best Seats).
For more about the theatre itself, see our Apollo Theatre guide.
Address
31 Shaftesbury Avenue, London W1D 7EZ
Nearest Tube
Piccadilly Circus (3-4 min walk)
Cast and Creative Team
Derren Brown. The country's best-known psychological illusionist, and its most decorated: two Olivier Awards for his stage work, eleven West End shows, and two decades of television that made "how did he do that?" a national conversation, from the early Mind Control series to the specials that saw him predict the National Lottery and stage some of TV's most audacious social experiments. He is also a bestselling author and portrait painter; the polymath streak is part of the stage persona. Only Human follows Showman as his newest full evening, built, as ever, on the promise that no stooges or actors are used.
Andrew O'Connor and Stephen Long (co-writers). Brown's long-time collaborators, who have co-created his stage shows across two decades; the craft of these evenings, the pacing, the structure, the way the astonishment compounds, is theirs as much as his.
On stage: Derren Brown, alone with plenty of volunteers at every performance.
Only Human Reviews and Reception
Only Human arrives in London with a sold-out UK and Ireland tour behind it and warm reviews in its wake.
From the tour, spoiler-free:
- On: Yorkshire Magazine: "Polished to within an inch of perfection... astonishing from first beat to last."
- Secret Stage Reviews (4/5): "Brown is a mix of donnish authority and playground cheek."
- Beyond the Curtain: "A theatrical masterpiece."
The only caveat the tour critics raised: if you have seen several of his previous shows, a few rhythms will feel familiar. If you have not, they agree you will be floored. For every verdict in one place, read our full round-up, What the Critics Say.
Derren Brown: Only Human
Apollo Theatre