Suzanne Collins’ hit Young Adult novel The Hunger Games is being adapted into a stage play set to debut on London’s West End.
The dystopian story was previously adapted into a hit film franchise starring Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson.
Debuting in 2024, the stage adaptation is being written by Olivier Award-winning playwright Conor McPherson, with 2:22 – A Ghost Story’s Matthew Dunster set to direct.
The play will adapt the first book in Collins’s franchise, which also formed the basis of the original 2012 film.
“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 said.
Meanwhile, McPherson said in a statement: "To receive Suzanne Collins’ blessing to adapt The Hunger Games for the stage is both humbling and inspiring. 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 theatre goers and to Suzanne Collins’ longstanding and devoted fans.”
The Hunger Games is set in a dystopic reality in which citizens from the 12 districts are forced to participate in elaborate “battle royale”-style fights to the death.
The story focuses on Katniss Everdeen, a competitor from an impoverished district, who rises to become a figurehead of a brewing rebellion.
Dunstersaid:“This might be the most exciting work call I’ve ever had. As soon as the producers said the title, I just said ‘Stop! I’m in’. I loved the Lionsgate film and the brutal and emotional power of this dystopian classic. My children had their heads in the books at the time (it’s definitely the ONLY work call of mine they’ve been excited about) so I stole them and I came to appreciate the beauty of Suzanne Collins’ storytelling.
Jennifer Lawrence in ‘The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1'
(Lionsgate)
“And then to add one of our greatest living playwrights, Conor McPherson, and experience him honouring the voice of Katniss Everdeen so rigorously has been a great privilege. This is theatre. It’s The Hunger Games in the theatre. And with the world class team we have put together we aim to do something that is fully immersed in the novel and the film but is uniquely, thrillingly theatrical.”
Four films were released starring Lawrence in the role of Katniss: 2012’s The Hunger Games, 2013’s The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, 2014’s The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1, and 2015’s The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2.
A prequel film, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, is set to come out in cinemas later this year. Taking place around the events of the first “Hunger Games” event, the film stars Tom Blythe, Rachel Zegler and Peter Dinklage.
The Hunger Games’s stage play comes amid a wave of screen-to-stage adaptations. A stage show based on the Netflix sci-fi series Stranger Things is set to debut in the West End in November, while a play based on the fantasy series Game of Thrones is currently in development.
