The Hunger Games on Stage is a stage adaptation of the famous book by Suzanne Collins. It’s a great theatre show, with amazing stunts and special effects. Here’s my The Hunger Games on Stage theatre review.
Overview and plot synopsis of The Hunger Games on Stage
The Hunger Games on Stage follows the story from the first book in The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins. It also closely follows the film starring Jennifer Lawrence. So if you’ve read the book or seen the film, you’ll already know the plot of The Hunger Games on Stage – so my The Hunger Games on Stage theatre review won’t give any plot spoilers. I’ll first give a plot synopsis of The Hunger Games on Stage, and then talk about what I liked and what I wasn’t so sure about.
Act One – The Reaping and training for the games
The Hunger Games on Stage opens in the impoverished District 12, where sixteen‑year‑old Katniss Everdeen supports her family in their impoverished life through illegal hunting after her father’s death. It’s the day of the annual Reaping – where every year, two children from each of the twelve Districts are chosen to fight to the death in the Capitol’s televised Hunger Games until one victor remains.
When Katniss’s younger sister Prim is selected as the Tribute from District 12, Katniss volunteers in her place to save her life. Alongside Katniss is Peeta Mellark, the baker’s son. Katniss and Peeta are whisked away to the Capitol, a world of excess and spectacle that stands in stark contrast to the suffering in the districts.
Under the guidance of their mentor Haymitch, Katniss and Peeta learn to present themselves as compelling competitors to gain sponsors who might save their lives in the games. Katniss shows her skill with a bow and arrow, and Peeta’s public confession of love for Katniss captures the audience’s imagination.
Act Two – The Actual Games
Act Two of The Hunger Games on Stage starts with the beginning of the Hunger Games. As soon as the Games starts, tributes from the Districts start to attack each other, with some losing their lives in the first few hours. Katniss runs to hide from the other Tributes, but encounters dangers in the arena that she needs to defend herself from.
Katniss forms an alliance with Rue, a young girl from District 11 who reminds Katniss of her sister Prim. Together, they come up with plots to defend themselves and hinder the other Tributes – including dropping a nest of Tracker Jackers (genetically modified hornets) onto a group of Tributes, and blowing up their food supplies. However, Rue is attacked and killed by one of the other Tributes. Katniss buries her body in flowers, as an act of defiance to the Capitol and their Games.
There’s then an announcement that two Tributes can win The Hunger Games, if they are from the same District. Katniss rushes to find Peeta, saving his life from his injuries. She starts to develop romantic feelings for him, but is confused about what this means – especially as she also has feelings for her close friend Gail back home.
The ending of the Games
The climax forces Katniss and Peeta into a final confrontation with the Capitol’s Game rules. When the Gamemakers attempt to force them to kill each other, Katniss defies the system by threatening a double suicide, leaving the Capitol no choice but to declare them joint victors. Their survival, however, comes at a cost. The Capitol sees Katniss’s defiance as rebellion, and Peeta realises that Katniss’s feelings may not match his own. The stage show closes with the knowledge that their victory has ignited something dangerous – both in the districts and between the two of them – with the seeds of rebellion, love, and a revolution starting to grow.
What I liked about The Hunger Games on Stage
The Hunger Games on Stage is undoubtedly an impressive show in the theatre. It’s performed at the Troubadour Theatre in Canary Wharf – a modern, purpose-built theatre space. This means that the whole theatre lends itself to being a brilliant show visually.
The stunts and special effects in the The Hunger Games on Stage
The stunts and special effects in The Hunger Games on Stage are definitely the highlights of this show. From the early stages, there are some really impressive moments.
The chariot scene is one of the scenes in Act One that really stands out. Katniss and Peeta are about to be introduced to the audiences of the Capitol as District 12’s Tributes, in a grand procession. The stage show puts them in a chariot, that flies slowly across the stage, with their costumes looking like they’re on fire. There are even some real blasts of fire around the theatre. It’s a really impressive scene.
The scene where the Tributes are training for the Games is impressive as well. There’s a huge cargo net, that must be over 10 metres tall, that some of the performers climb. And there’s a great visual scene where the Tributes all have spears, and it’s almost like a dance scene mixed with stage combat.
The effects for the actual Games
In the Games themselves, the visual spectacle continues. There’s a great fight scene where two Tributes are on ropes, high up in the theatre, battling right next to the audience in the high part of the seats. And there’s a tree (that looks like a big lighting rig) that Katniss climbs – again, really high up on the stage. One time she climbs this to escape fire – and there’s actual fire chasing her up the ‘tree’ as she climbs.
The Tracker Jackers are also really impressive. It’s super impressive how Katniss climbs up to the brightly lit nest – it’s so high up the stage, and she climbs around making it look so easy. When the nest drops onto the Tributes on the ground, the lights go dark, and the actors are waving lit rods to make it look like the Tracker Jackers are attacking them. It’s a really impressive way to show it.
There were big screens at the far left and right of the stage showing projections, which were good. And there were also small, low-level screens all around the stage, which also showed projections. This worked really well as well, bring the projections right onto the stage level.
And of course, there were plenty of moments where Katniss fired arrows on stage. Again, this was really impressive, to have arrows shot on stage – and always hit their target. One of the most impressive was when Katniss fired an arrow to hit a helmet on a backpack, causing it to fall onto the land mines around the food supplies and explode. It was impressive how they made the arrow hit the helmet perfectly, and then the special effects for the explosion was really impressive as well.
There are lots more impressive fight scenes, including the final fight in The Hunger Games where the ‘wolves’ are attacking them. There are honestly just so many visually good moments.
The characters and the music
I liked how The Hunger Games on Stage used the music from the film in the show. The main anthem from the film felt really powerful on stage, and really added to the heightened emotions. There were a few softer songs as well which were nice. But this show is definitely not a musical – so don’t expect it to feel like a musical!
I thought the characters were generally ok. Unfortunately, when pretty much everyone in the audience will have seen The Hunger Games films and/or read the books, everyone will have their own ideas of what the characters should be like. I really liked The Hunger Games films, and I liked a lot of the characters in that. So inevitably, I was comparing all the characters in The Hunger Games on Stage to the characters in the film.
But generally, a lot of the characters were good. Katniss was good, and I liked Peeta as well. Effie, Caesar and Cinna were also good, and Rue. And President Snow was also good – although we never actually saw him in person, we saw projections of him on the big screen, played by the famous actor John Malkovich. It worked ok to just have him on the big screens, and not on the stage in person. I thought the costumes in the stage show were also all good, and felt comparable to the films.
The audience sat in the Districts
I also really liked that the seats in the theatre are arranged into ‘Districts’. It made you feel like you were part of that world as soon as you walked into the theatre. And it made you slightly connect to your District. I was sat in District 11, right at the top of the theatre, and it made you feel like you were sort of part of District 11, and rooting for the Tributes from District 11.
In the Games, whenever a Tribute from that District died, there was the sound of the canon along with a red light on that section of the audience from that District. I loved this. It genuinely made it feel like someone from your District had just died. When Rue from District 11 died, and we heard the canon along with the red light on our seats, I genuinely thought ‘oh no’ – because it felt like we’d lost our person. It was a really clever way of getting the audience involved in rooting for their own District.
Some sections of the audience seats also moved around, which was clever. Most of the show had the audience sat all the way around the stage. But there were times when segments would move, so there could be a clear runway down the stage.
What I wasn’t so sure about
While The Hunger Games on Stage is undoubtedly a really impressive show visually, I still left the theatre feeling like I wanted just a bit more. Not more special effects or stunts – these were all good. But maybe just a bit more emotion. And a bit less narration as well.
The narration from Katniss
A lot of the show has Katniss narrating it. There’s less of this in the second half, once The Hunger Games begins. But the first half has a lot of narration. There’s a lot in the opening scenes, and narrating the Reaping. I wasn’t so keen on this. I felt like it took away from the emotion of the moment, because she kept talking about what she felt – rather than showing what she felt. Even when Katniss volunteers for Prim, the narration takes you out of the moment, so it doesn’t feel that emotional.
The narration also wasn’t great in the chariot scene. This was a really visually good scene, with fire-effect costumes and the chariot flying across the stage. And it started with impressive music as well. It was great. But then, the music cuts, and Katniss started narrating it and how she was feeling. For me, that meant that the powerful emotions from the music and the visuals were also cut, and instead it just became about her narration. I’d have preferred a lot less narration, and more focus on the music and creating powerful, emotional moments.
The lack of emotion in The Hunger Games on Stage
Overall, I think that The Hunger Games on Stage did lack emotion. There weren’t any times that I thought I was going to cry. But it should be emotional – especially when Katniss volunteers, or when Rue dies. It’s an emotional story. But the show just didn’t feel that emotional.
I didn’t really feel the love between Katniss and Peeta. It wasn’t very believable that they were actually starting to fall in love in the arena. And any hint of a love story between Katniss and Gail was even less believable on stage.
I also really didn’t like Haymitch in The Hunger Games on Stage. He just came across as a drunk loser. Whereas in the film, I liked him, and I could feel some emotion towards him, and a sense of a connection between him and Katniss. This was completely missing from the stage show.
It’s a shame that the show was lacking in emotion. It felt like they’d tried so hard to make it visually impressive, that they forgot that they also had to focus on making the characters likeable and believable, so you could get emotionally invested in their stories and feel the pain when all the terrible things happened. I cry very easily in theatre shows, but wasn’t even close to feeling that way in this show.
Exposing the plot holes in the story
As a stage show, The Hunger Games on Stage inevitably has to cut some of the plot from the book and also the film. The story still made sense even with some parts cut. But I feel like the stage version highlighted some of the plot holes in the story. These plot holes are sort-of there in the book, but with all the extra detail, you can just about explain them away. But in the cut-down plot of the stage show, it does leave you questioning a few details in the plot.
In the stage show, President Snow says that Katniss can’t survive the games and tells the Gamemakers to make sure she doesn’t survive. Which is fine – but it’s then not clear why she survives. It would have been so easy for the Gamemakers to do something to kill her – even just set fire to something near her so she can’t escape.
The sudden rule change in the Games so two tributes can win, and then the sudden reversal of that rule change, also feels a bit random and unexplained in the stage show. I think there is more context to this in the book, and it’s better explained. But in the stage show, it felt a bit random and not explained. And so it made the overall plot feel a bit weaker, because it wasn’t clear why things were happening, or why Katniss was now the symbol of the revolution.
Would I recommend The Hunger Games on Stage
Overall, I did really enjoy The Hunger Games on Stage. The special effects on stage were really impressive, with good stunts and a lot of memorable moments. The scene where Katniss is climbing the tree away from the real fire was definitely memorable, as well as the two Tributes fighting high up in the audience on ropes. It was a great show visually. But for me, it still lacked some emotion. I didn’t feel as emotionally invested in the characters and the story as I’d hoped.
Hope you enjoyed my The Hunger Games on Stage theatre review! Check out my other theatre reviews for more shows in the West End, across the UK and the world.
