The Hunger Games On Stage has officially opened at the Troubadour Canary Wharf Theatre, with reviews coming out from London’s theatre critics.
The Hunger Games On Stage is now playing at the Troubadour Canary Wharf Theatre, booking until 25 October 2026.
Read reviews from the Times, TimeOut and more, with further reviews to be added.
Directed by Matthew Dunster (Hedda, Shirley Valentine, 2:22 – A Ghost Story, The Pillowman), this new live show is based on the first book in Suzanne Collins’ epic series and the subsequent Lionsgate movie franchise.
Olivier Award-winning playwright Conor McPherson (The Brightening Air, Girl from the North Country, The Weir) has adapted the story for the stage.
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The cast of The Hunger Games
The Hunger Games on Stage stars Mia Carragher (The Gathering) as Katniss Everdeen, with Euan Garrett (Quadrophenia A Mod Ballet) as Peeta Mellark, and Joshua Lacey (All The Old Knives) as Haymitch Abernathy.
The cast also features Tristan Waterson (Dear England) as Gale Hawthorne; Ruth Everett (Blithe Spirit) as Katniss’s mother Mrs Everdeen; Sophia Ally (The Current War) as the sister of Katniss, Primrose Everdeen; Tamsin Carroll (Rock Follies, 2:22 A Ghost Story) as Effie Trinket; Stavros Demetraki (A Face in the Crowd, Oklahoma!) as Caesar Flickerman; and Nathan Ives-Moiba (Cabaret) as Cinna.
John Malkovich also appears as President Coriolanus Snow, with his performance pre-recorded for the production.
Casting is completed by Aiya Agustin as Tribute Rue, Liana Cottrill as Tribute Clove, Lewis Easter as Tribute Marvel, Marcellus Hill as Tribute Thresh, Jessica Lee as Tribute Tippet, Mariana Lewis as Tribute Glimmer, Felipe Pacheco as Tribute Cato (and Fight Captain), Redmond Rance as Tribute Stele, Mark Samaras as Tribute Drove, Artemis Stamouli as Tribute Fossa (and Movement Captain), and Rory Toms as Tribute Fila.
The Ensemble is Alexandra Barredo, Imogen Brooke, and Felix Garcia Guyer (Chief of Staff, Ensemble and Fight Captain), and the Swings are Geo Bailey, Kyerron Dixon-Bassey, Matthew Ives (and Swing Captain), Kiera Milward, and Nathanael Saleh.
The epic, state-of-the-art new production is set in the round at the new 1,200 seat Troubadour Canary Wharf Theatre.
The Hunger Games is set in a dystopian future where 24 young tributes are pitted against each other in a deadly arena.
Katniss Everdeen, a fearless and resourceful heroine, emerges as a symbol of rebellion as she fights not only for her life but for the hope of a nation oppressed by a ruthless Capitol.
The creative team for The Hunger Games on Stage also includes Set designer Miriam Buether, Costume designer Moi Tran, Choreographer Charlotte Broom, Lighting designer Lucy Carter, Sound designer Ian Dickinson for Autograph, Video designer Tal Rosner, Illusions by Chris Fisher, Fight director Kev McCurdy, Performer flying by John Maddox for Suspended Illusions, Arranger, musical director & additional compositions by James Maloney, Creative assistant director Robyn Grant, Associate set designer Luke Smith, and Casting by Amy Ball. Production management is led by Lloyd Thomas.
The Hunger Games On Stage is produced by Tristan Baker and Charlie Parsons for Runaway Entertainment, Oliver Royds for BOS Productions and Isobel David, by arrangement with Lionsgate.
The Hunger Games On Stage is now playing at the Troubadour Canary Wharf Theatre in London, booking to 25 October 2026.
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What are the critics saying about The Hunger Games on Stage?
The Stage
★★★★
“Plenty to impress fans of the franchise”
“Conor McPherson and Matthew Dunster’s stage adaptation of the hit YA story is ambitious and spectacular”
“It’s unusual to begin a review marvelling at an auditorium’s seating, but how often do seats move before your eyes?”
“Transporting such a roaming, highly technical story to the stage is ambitious. And in Dunster’s production, there’s some friction between making it theatrical, with a largely bare stage leaving detailed world-building to the audience’s imagination, and a desire to impress with spectacle, flames and mid-air fights.”
“But there’s plenty here to impress fans of the franchise, and the space is used in its entirety.”
“With its North American setting and scant text, the script isn’t recognisably the work of storytelling maestro McPherson.”
“… little time is spent getting to know the tributes, and there’s not much sense of the loyalties building and dissolving inside and outside the arena. Still, moments such as the dead returning as animals prove just as unsettling under Charlotte Broom’s pack-like choreography as in the book and film”
Holly O’Mahony, The Stage
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The Evening Standard
★★★
“A curiously uninvolving exercise in visual dazzle”
“Mia Carragher is excellent as Katniss, but sometimes this production feels closer to a circus than a play”
“First the good news: Mia Carragher makes an arresting stage debut as Katniss Everdeen in this spectacular adaptation… I was never bored and often breathless as the huge, mostly young cast ran, jumped, fought and screamed around the lofty and technologically sophisticated in-the-round arena of the new Troubadour Theatre.”
“The whole extravaganza, involving heart-in-mouth aerial work, gouts of flame and nifty visual effects, feels more like a circus-style parade of tricks than an involving theatrical narrative. Adapter Conor McPherson, usually the subtlest of playwrights, has produced a script that’s both flat and thin.”
“There’s little room here for character. Katniss’s rivals and occasional allies in Lord of the Flies combat are sketched in and Peeta is a gel-haired wet blanket. Carragher commands the space with forceful physicality”
“Director Matthew Dunster, and his team choreographing the fights, choric movement and flying, do a fine job of filling this steeply-banked, 1200-seat crucible”
Nick Curtis, The Evening Standard
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The Guardian
★★★
“Thundering fight to the death in a dazzling dystopia”
“Eye-popping visuals and a strong lead performance energise Matthew Dunster’s production – but the emotion gets lost amid the action”
“Closely following the plot of Collins’ first book in the young adult series, and the Lionsgate film of 2012, Matthew Dunster’s production is a grand-scale manifestation of dystopian Panem.”
“The Super Bowl optics are all there from the off… a fast-changing set by Miriam Buether and energetic choreography from Charlotte Broom.”
“There is internal monologue by Katniss, allowing us to access her feelings, as in the book, but not quite enough, and this narration is also burdened with exposition and background. The show does not manage to nail her relationship with Gale”
“Carragher, complete with Katniss’s signature plait, is fresh-faced, physical and thankfully does not imitate Lawrence’s laconic performance.”
“Because of the pace, there is not enough time for characters to come to life”
“John Malkovich, appearing on screen as President Snow… remains as flat as his 2D image, more a cameo than a character.”
“Made in the same mould as the stage version of Stranger Things, this show is not as consistently eye-popping. The production bursts into life in the second half, when the Tributes find themselves in the killing field.”
“Fans of the series will probably lap it up and the ending leaves it well open for the burning girl to return, and return.”
Arifa Akbar, The Guardian
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Daily Mail
★★★
“A £26m colosseum, a footballer’s daughter … but these Hunger Games lack bite of the blockbusters”
“In the chrome-and-glass dystopia of Canary Wharf in east London, most of the money looks like it’s been blown on creating a hi-tech colosseum.”
“One glorious moment sees Katniss and her opponent Peeta Mellark (Euan Garrett) fly overhead in a blazing chariot, wearing jumpsuits that appear to be on fire.”
“Although Olivier award-winning playwright Conor McPherson (The Weir, Girl From The North Country) has been conscripted to adapt the blockbuster movie, his attempts to bring psychological depth to the spectacle prove futile without the film’s close-ups.”
“Ms Carragher’s Katniss is likeable – apprehensive, conflicted, yet resolute. But Matthew Dunster’s production is at its best when most active and least reflective.”
“Martial arts, modern dance, and hand-to-hand combat are what drive the pageant, heightened by strobe lighting and nasty white noise.”
Patrick Marmion, Daily Mail
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The Independent
★★★
“Dazzling bits of stage trickery bring this dark dystopia to life”
“This latest expansion of Suzanne Collins’ mega-franchise has all the bells, bangs and whistles you’d expect – but it misses the point of her story”
“If you’re after nerve-shredding, movie-style spectacle, then this big but unsubtle staging of The Hunger Games might just add a welcome chill to your winter.”
“There are wince-inducing fight scenes, eyebrow-singeing bursts of fire, and dazzling bits of stage trickery. Its tensest moments plunge the audience right into this dangerous world – as though you’re fighting for your life, along with its cast of embattled teens.”
“A 21-year-old Mia Carragher… is fierce and impressively athletic in her stage debut as protagonist and narrator… At the show’s climax, Carragher scales a precarious steel beam high above her jeering rivals’ heads as flames lick at her heels – the danger is palpable.”
“… this is a story that feels incredibly current, with its narrative of a slathering media that capitalises on human suffering. Dunster amps up this reality TV element”
“An arena like this should be perfectly suited to getting the crowd cheering on their favourites. But although this production names each seating bank after one of the warring districts, the interactivity stops there.”
“This regime may try to kill Katniss but they never cast doubt on her strength, or suitability as a champion. McPherson’s adaptation fails to comprehend this: instead, he makes too much of Katniss and her sister’s pretty dresses, and not enough of their raging sense of injustice.”
Alice Saville, The Independent
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TimeOut
★★★
“This lavish stage adaptation of the Suzanne Collins novel is staged in the purpose built Troubadour Canary Wharf Theatre”
“Historically this sort of thing is not theatre’s strength. A cheeky duel, absolutely. But a half-hour plus nonstop combat sequence featuring 24 fighters and multiple sub-locations is… tricky. And to their credit, director Matthew Dunster and a top notch creative team do a pretty damn good job of finding a way forward”
“… I found it hard not to admire the quixotic but skilled attempt to translate something so action-packed to the stage.”
“Dunster is not a subtle director, and in many ways that suits Collins’s novel.”
“It never feels like it lectures you on its themes, it’s just very obvious what they are, and it’s at least as good on Katniss’s bemused dabbling with the world of celebrity as the fighty stuff”
“Mia Carragher is certainly up to the considerable physical demands of playing Katniss… But she’s somewhat light on the ol’ charisma and she talks in a breathy Marilyn Monroe-style accent that is odd bordering on distracting. She’s not helped by Conor McPherson’s adaptation, which casts her as both protagonist and narrator.”
“Ultimately The Hunger Games: On Stage is pretty different to the film and its strongest moments are its most theatrical”
“The Hunger Games: On Stage will stand or fall on how much people like the very long action sequence that takes up most of the second half. I didn’t think it was so utterly thrilling that it vindicates the play in and of itself, but I did think Dunster and team do a credible job”
Andrzej Lukowski, TimeOut
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What’s on Stage
★★★
“Flickers of brilliance that don’t catch fire”
“McPherson’s best work often explores quiet despair and spiritual unrest – not exactly the obvious fit for a blockbuster YA property that moves with frantic agility from plot beat to plot beat. The result, directed by Matthew Dunster, is a show that often feels caught between two impulses: thoughtful character study and full-throttle spectacle, and never really satisfyingly landing either.”
“There’s a whiff of Girl from the North Country in the way he writes about poverty and hope side by side.”
“Mia Carragher makes her professional debut as Katniss, and it’s quite a statement of arrival. She handles the long stretches of narration with assured poise, but what stands out is her physical performance.”
“Her chemistry with Euan Garrett, playing Peeta Mellark, gives the piece some much-needed warmth amid all the danger.”
“The star casting of John Malkovich as President Snow, presented via low-energy pre-recorded video, feels largely like an unnecessary addition.”
“Dunster’s direction largely keeps the various strands of Panem’s storylines in tight focus, and the team have a lot of fun when the tributes reach the Capitol.”
“Even rich questions don’t stop the lingering frustration that the show doesn’t quite decide what it wants to be, caught between introspection and bombast and never allowing the two to support one-another. It could easily lose 15 or 20 minutes and feel sharper for it.”
“This may not be a flawless victory for either McPherson or the franchise, but you can’t fault anyone for lack of ambition by giving it a go.”
Alex Wood, What’s on Stage
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The Telegraph
★★
“The Hunger Games is such a queasy story – should it really be on the stage?”
“The adaptation of Suzanne Collins’s blockbuster novel lacks characterisation and coherence”
“The theatre industry’s rapacious obsession with leveraging existing films in the name of new theatrical “experiences” continues apace with this depressingly bad adaptation of Suzanne Collins’s blockbuster young adult dystopia.”
“… director Matthew Dunster and writer Conor McPherson’s unexciting production fails to reimagine and revitalise its source material. Moreover, they don’t properly critique the queasy subject matter. There is simply never enough sense that we, the audience, are complicit in what we are seeing.”
“… for someone who is on stage virtually the entire time, it’s striking how little [Mia Carragher] actually has to do.”
“… McPherson’s heavily emotive-by-numbers script rarely allows her to reveal a specific inner life. And given that the story is about children killing each other in the name of TV entertainment, the failure properly to characterise the tributes themselves is almost a moral problem.”
“Yet Dunster’s production feels thuddingly perfunctory. Save for a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment of suspended action in the rafters, startlingly little use is made of the hangar-like proportions of the Troubadour auditorium”
Claire Allfree, The Telegraph
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The Times
★★
“Welcome to the Humdrum Games”
“An energetic young cast give it their all, but this adaptation of Suzanne Collins’s novel at Canary Wharf in London is oddly underpowered — even John Malkovich phones it in”
“This dystopia could surely do with a little more pizzazz. The young cast members give it their all but the version of Suzanne Collins’s bestselling novel that’s been unveiled in London’s Docklands has an oddly underpowered air. Matthew Dunster’s production often seems closer to that vintage game show The Krypton Factor than a vision of a brutal gladiatorial future.”
“The in-the-round arena, designed by Miriam Buether, looks impressive when you take your seat, but once the action starts you soon discover that Dunster and his team struggle to fill it with enough spectacle to justify the steep prices.”
“… the fact that she’s [Mia Carragher] required to narrate much of the story while sprinting here and there is a distinct flaw in a script by the playwright Conor McPherson, which plods through the tale”
“The cast does an honourable job of portraying the ravenous, genetically engineered creatures that go on the rampage towards the end. Euan Garrett wins our sympathy as Katniss’s comrade Peeta, while Stavros Demetraki camps it up as Caesar Flickerman, the games’ compere”
“There’s presumably more than enough of a fanbase to keep this venture running and running, but it really needs some genetic engineering of its own.”
Clive Davis, The Times
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The Financial Times
★★
“The Hunger Games: On Stage pulsates with energy but lacks a beating heart”
“Dystopian spectacle about children fighting and dying in combat should hit hard emotionally — but it doesn’t”
“This new iteration for the stage could scarcely be more resonant, opening in London just after the storming success of the BBC’s reality show The Celebrity Traitors and against a political backdrop of global inequality and ideological extremes.”
“They seize on the opportunity offered by live performance to turn the audience into complicit spectators.”
“… the script, drawing on the first novel in Collins’ trilogy and the 2012 Lionsgate film, never quite achieves that unique, independent dramatic life.”
“… first-person narrative can be hard to pull off on stage, and that, together with inevitable compression, means Mia Carragher’s charismatic, spirited Katniss mostly pinballs through the opening sections filling in exposition as she goes.”
“It also makes spectacular use of the scope of the arena: at one point Katniss and Peeta soar above the audience in flaming robes and a fiery chariot. Some seating blocks move to sculpt the playing space”
“But there are also some strangely redundant dance sequences and confusing plot twists. Audience interaction feels oddly halfhearted. And, perhaps most crucially, there’s little emotional impact.”
Sarah Hemming, The Financial Times
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The i Paper
★★
“The Hunger Games stage show gets everything wrong”
“I was mentally planning my journey home long before the end”
“… whereas Harry Potter boasts a brand-new story for its risk-that-paid-off-handsomely stage iteration, this Hunger Games has the disadvantage of attempting to retell events that have already been made iconic thanks to millions of Hollywood dollars – and, crucially, finds no innovative ways to re-engage with the source material. I’m disappointed to report that I found this unexcitingly staged spectacle an underwhelming trudge.”
“Director Matthew Dunster and adaptor Conor McPherson have both taken a less-is-more attitude for their version, opting to allow audience imagination to do its fair share of heavy lifting; this stance would be perfectly reasonable, were it not for the fact that the show is staged in an imposing new 1200-seat, purpose-built arena.”
“One aspect that cannot be faulted is the energy, stamina and athleticism of the performers, many of whom come from dance backgrounds. Carragher herself must run tens of miles during each performance; her indefatigability is commendable, even though McPherson’s bewilderingly clunky script leaves her with far too much exposition to plough through.”
“This could have been, should have been, a grippingly urgent piece of entertainment to set the heart racing and mind humming with potential parallels between Panem and our world today.”
Fiona Mountford, The i Paper
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Average Rating: 2.7 Stars based on 11 reviews
CriticScore: 55 based on 11 reviews
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📷 Main photo: The Hunger Games on Stage – Euan Garrett (Peeta Mellark), Mia Carragher (Katniss Everdeen). Photo by Johan Persson
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