The Big Picture
- London’s West End will host the first-ever stage adaptation of The Hunger Games in 2024, promising a dynamic and innovative interpretation of the dystopian world.
- Playwright Conor McPherson and director Matthew Dunster are collaborating to bring Suzanne Collins’ classic story to the stage, expressing excitement and admiration for its values of resilience, self-reliance, and moral inquiry.
- While the cast has not yet been announced, the creators and stakeholders are enthusiastic about introducing The Hunger Games to a new generation of theatergoers and to the devoted fans of the series.
The dystopian world of Panem, a setting many have come to know through the pages of Suzanne Collins’s best-selling The Hunger Games novels and the cinematic universe led by Jennifer Lawrence, is not only returning for its prequel installment The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, but is now also set to be recreated on the London stage.
Olivier Award-winning playwright Conor McPherson, known for his impactful plays such as the musical Girl From the North Country and The Weir, is adapting it for a live theatrical production. McPherson is collaborating with director Matthew Dunster, celebrated for works like 2:22 – A Ghost Story and Hangmen. The play is slated to debut in London’s West End in autumn 2024.
The play will be based on the first book and picks up when Katniss Everdeen, portrayed by Jennifer Lawrence in the movies, bravely steps in to replace her younger sister in the gruesome competition. This is going to be the first-ever stage adaptation of The Hunger Games in the series’ 15 year history.
Who’s Behind ‘The Hunger Games’ Stage Adaptation?
The play is still in early works so the cast has yet not been announced. However, the main stakeholders have shared their thoughts. “I’m very excited to be collaborating with the amazing team of Conor McPherson and Matthew Dunster as they bring their dynamic and innovative interpretation of ‘The Hunger Games’ to the London stage,” Collins wrote in a statement.
“She has created a classic story which continues to resonate now more than ever. In a world where the truth itself seems increasingly up for grabs, ‘The Hunger Games’ beautifully expresses values of resilience, self-reliance, and independent moral inquiry for younger people especially. This is turbo-charged storytelling of the highest order and I’m hugely excited to bring it to a new generation of theatergoers and to Suzanne Collins’ longstanding and devoted fans,” McPherson exclaimed while backing up Collins’s statement.
Dunster was also quick to jump in and shared, “As soon as the producers said the title, I just said ‘Stop! I’m in.” The Hunger Games On Stage will have set a London stage for its live adaptation by the autumn of 2024. The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, on the other hand, will hit US theaters on November 17, 2023. Check out the official announcement below and sign up on their official website for more updates.
