Technical wizardry and drama – but Hunger Games on stage divides critics

In a corner of London’s Canary Wharf, better known for finance than fireballs, The Hunger Games: On Stage has bought Panem to life in a purpose-built 1,200 seat arena.

The show is an adaptation of Suzanne Collins’ bestselling dystopian novels, made into a film franchise starring Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson, in which teenagers are selected to fight to the death in a televised spectacle.

The £26m Troubadour Canary Wharf Theatre, with arena-style seating, placing audiences in different “districts”, has been built to allow for sweeping visuals, immersive projections and dramatic aerial sequences.

At one point Katniss, played by Mia Carragher, and Peeta, played by Euan Garrett, fly over the stage in a chariot on fire.

While critics, including The Stage, praised the show’s ambition and technical wizardry, some expressed reservations about whether the story packed enough of an emotional punch.

A two-star review by the Financial Times said it was visually energetic but lacked “a beating heart”.

“There’s little emotional impact – we are watching children die and that should hit hard, but it doesn’t,” Sarah Hemming wrote.

But The Stage’s Holly O’Mahony called the show “ambitious and spectacular.

Her four-star review said there is “plenty here to impress fans of the franchise, and the space is used in its entirety.”

The Independent’s three-star review praised Carragher for her athletic and impressive stage debut.

Alice Saville agreed said the show has “all the bells, bangs and whistles you’d expect – but it misses the point of her story”.

A two-star review by Clive Davis in The Times said the arena looks impressive when you arrive, but once the action starts you realise the show “struggles to fill it with enough spectacle to justify the steep prices”.

The cast, including newcomer Carragher, who is the daughter of ex-Liverpool footballer Jamie Carragher, were praised for their performances.

Davis said she is an “energetic central presence” and “Garrett wins our sympathy”.

The Guardian’s three-star review from Arifa Akbar said the show is “all spectacle above emotion”, adding: “You don’t feel the dread in Conor McPherson’s adaptation, which seems clipped by the pace of events.”

But the Telegraph’s Claire Alfree called the show a “depressingly bad adaptation” of the young adult books.

Her two-star review said director Matthew Dunster, who has also directed shows including 2:22 – A Ghost Story, failed to “reimagine and revitalise its source material”.

The play has kept true to the books, and producer Tristan Baker said it was important to not have any plot changes, but there “are lots of Easter Eggs and some wonderful surprises if you know the world”.

Garrett, who plays Peeta, told the BBC it’s important for the show “not to be compared” with the books because “it’s a reimagining of its own entity”.

He added that Collins came to watch a rehearsal recently and “she loved it”.

“To have her stamp of approval and blessing was a real honour,” he said.

Performances have tightened since previews started in mid-October, when early shows were branded “chaotic” and “messy” by some theatregoers, who reported long queues, delays and visible signs that parts of the venue were not completed.

The show’s producer, Oliver Royds, told the BBC there are “always teething issues with shows of this magnitude” and the team “were slightly disappointed we didn’t get it right from the very get-go”.

“We did mess up on the first night with a few issues,” he said, adding those issues have now been rectified, and those affected by the first couple of shows have been invited back.

Talking about the building process, Royds called it a “DIY makeover on steroids” and said 42,000 pieces of steel had to craned into the theatre, with thousands of people coming together to make it happen.

Carragher, 21, told the BBC that the show is a real technical challenge.

“There are so many parts of the stage that open up,” she said.

“If you put something in the wrong place, it affects the next scene. You’ve got to be thinking ahead of yourself so much.”

Garrett added that the emotional intensity of his performance had to run in parallel with technical precision.

“You’re in an intense scene, giving everything, but you’ve still got to remember what needs clipping on or where a prop has to be, and making that seamless and not noticeable is the struggle.”

The show is also very physically demanding – there are the non-stop combat sequences, rapid sprints across the stage and tightly timed stunts.

“We’ve got to be really comfortable with each other and trust that that they’re going to move out of the way when you hit them, at the very last minute,” Carragher says.

“It needs to be believable because when we do it safe, it doesn’t look as good.”