'The Hunger Games' review — this new stage version of the epic dystopian tale lacks cohesion and spectacle

Read our review of The Hunger Games, starring Mia Carragher as Katniss Everdeen, now in performances at the Troubadour Canary Wharf Theatre to 25 October 2026.

Summary

• Suzanne Collins's bestselling book has been adapted for stage by Conor McPherson
• The Hunger Games premieres at a new purpose-built Troubadour theatre in Canary Wharf
• Mia Carragher plays heroic District 12 tribute Katniss Everdeen
• The cast also features John Malkovich as dictator President Snow

A giant new Troubadour theatre in Canary Wharf promises an epic theatrical experience of Suzanne Collins’s bestselling dystopian sci-fi book series The Hunger Games (also adapted into Hollywood movies starring Jennifer Lawrence). Alas, however, the actual stage show in this purpose-built space is a damp squib: to borrow the Games’s tagline, the odds are not in its favour.

The production hews closely to the source material. Courageous teenager Katniss Everdeen volunteers as “tribute”, in place of her younger sister, in Panem’s fearsome Games – which sees children from each of the 12 Districts fight to the death in a contest televised for the Capitol’s wealthy elite. There’s a love triangle too: Katniss is joined in the arena by schoolmate Peeta Mellark, but also thinks of a boy back home, Gale Hawthorne.

In fairness to adaptor Conor McPherson there is a formidable amount of story to pack in, but his plodding, protracted version is still dismayingly unimaginative. The most frustrating choice is saddling Katniss with cheesy, exposition-heavy narration, in which she loudly spells everything out for us.

It’s a device that works against this heroine’s fundamental traits, namely her grit, stoicism and inscrutability; instead she becomes a whiny, emotional over-sharer. It’s an insurmountable challenge for newcomer Mia Carragher (daughter of footballer Jamie Carragher), as well as for her too-simplified romantic prospects, Euan Garrett as Peeta and Tristan Waterson as Gale.

Tamsin Carroll fares better as Games chaperone Effie, memorably attired in hot pink and teetering heels, and determined to keep the show on the road. As drunken coach Haymitch, Joshua Lacey does a fairly enjoyable Matthew McConaughey impression, and Nathan Ives-Moiba has presence as stylist Cinna. However, pre-filmed segments featuring John Malkovich as dictator President Snow stick out awkwardly: the actor reads his lines with palpable disinterest, supplying zero menace.

Unlike ingenious stage versions of big franchises like Harry Potter and the Cursed Child or Stranger Things: The First Shadow, Matthew Dunster’s production never really finds a unique and coherent theatrical language for The Hunger Games. It’s a hodge-podge of ideas, including limited video, songs, aerial stunts, and unconvincing stylised dance.

Most promising is the high-energy training section, where we see tributes scrambling up nets, doing backflips and thrusting spears. But it’s not followed through with the arena fights and the production as a whole, though featuring some sleek design by Miriam Buether, sorely lacks that wow live spectacle. It could use more palpable jeopardy too: the flames (Katniss is “the girl on fire”) are pretty tame, and the violence rarely shocks.

Oddly given the work’s searing resonance, with its study of authoritarian regimes and propagandist constructed-reality TV, the satirical horror is also dulled. When Stavros Demetraki’s flamboyant Games host Caesar Flickerman interviews the tributes, flashing signs encourage us to applaud or laugh, but the audience could be made to feel much more complicit – just like the Capitol dwellers watching this death match as entertainment.

Nor are we invited to join the rebellion, though each in-the-round seating section is assigned a District; it’s certainly not immersive in that sense. Despite the athletic cast’s tireless efforts, this is a strangely unsatisfying experience.

The Hunger Games is at the Troubadour Canary Wharf Theatre to 25 October 2026. Check back for The Hunger Games tickets on LondonTheatre.co.uk

Photo credit: The Hunger Games (Photos by Johan Persson)