The Hunger Games: On Stage at Troubadour Canary Wharf Theatre
What better place in London to be transformed into the Capitol than Canary Wharf, its architecture imposing enough that the large flaming torches decorating the walk to the theatre hardly seem out of place. The Troubadour Canary Wharf has been turned into a purpose-built arena for the dystopian Panem, complete with blocks of moving seats that every so often reconfigure themselves. Every inch of the stage is used: things and people are constantly rising from the floor, descending from the ceiling, and even leaping from the walls. Playwright Conor McPherson and director Matthew Dunster’s production is led by an energetic young ensemble cast, yet it is powered more by its machinery than by its storytelling.
Based on the first novel of Suzanne Collins’s acclaimed trilogy, children from impoverished districts are forced to compete in the Hunger Games, an annual televised fight to the death until only one victor remains. Stepping into the demanding role of our teenage heroine, Katniss Everdeen from the poorest District 12, is 21-year-old Mia Carragher. Her entrance is striking, emerging from a smoke-filled stage with her signature bow and arrow in hand.
Carragher’s Katniss is resolute, trading the character’s typical stoicism for a louder, more impassioned energy. She narrates her thoughts the entire time like she does in the books, and it’s an enormous physical feat that Carragher is running laps around the stage and performing high-intensity stunts while doing so. But the constant spelling out of Katniss’s every thought results in a performance that feels more explanatory than embodied, never really letting audiences connect with the immense pressures she is under.
Euan Garrett as Peeta Mellark is as charismatic as Josh Hutcherson’s film iteration. Together with Carragher, the pair nail the awkwardness of two people figuring out their feelings while facing almost certain death. One stunning moment of wizardry sees Peeta and Katniss riding a flaming chariot that floats above the arena, the gushes of fire so intense that the heat brushes the entire audience.
This level of commitment to visceral spectacle is consistent throughout, notable mentions to choreographer Charlotte Broom, lighting designer Lucy Carter and sound designer Ian Dickinson, who work together for a critical explosion sequence where slow motion, blinding flashes and an ear-splitting blast leave a lasting, multisensory imprint.
Tamsin Carroll’s Effie is a vision in her hot pink, mad hatter-esque fashion. Her animated demeanour is brilliantly balanced by Joshua Lacey’s Haymitch, whose chronically drunken state and coaching-through-gritted-teeth reveal the trauma of a past victor. John Malkovich as President Snow, however, is deeply disappointing, appearing only as pre-recorded projections on giant screens. His performance is monotone and woody, as if he were reading off a teleprompter. Any and all sense of threat is neutered when he seems less like the tyrannical dictator of Panem and more like a man being held hostage.
In this first theatrical interpretation, audiences can choose their seats in one of the districts. We become willing spectators, directly used as the live studio audience for Caesar Flickerman’s (a haughtily charismatic Stavros Demetraki) gameshow. There is great thematic potential for this setup to lean into the source material’s critique of real-world apathy and our complicity in systems that capitalise on human suffering – a critique as current as ever today. But this potential is squandered when McPherson’s adaptation leaves little to no room for emotional scenes to breathe, constantly undercutting them with musical numbers and dance sequences that should have been cut or restructured. And so, amongst other casualties, we are robbed of the full devastating impact of Katniss’s relationship with Rue (Aiya Agustin).
From Kev McCurdy’s brutally realistic fight choreography, Miriam Buether’s ever-morphing set, crazy acrobatics, aerial stunts, and outlandish Capitol costumes, there is no doubt plenty for this visual feast of a production to be enjoyed by fans and newcomers, even as the very efforts to thrill render the show morally vacant. A final scene from Katniss teases a sequel plan, but for now, the odds are tragically in spectacle’s favour.
Ruweyda Sheik-Ali
Photos: Johan Persson
The Hunger Games: On Stage is at Troubadour Canary Wharf Theatre from 20th October 2025 until 25th October 2026. For further information or to book, visit the theatre’s website here.
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