London’s new immersive ‘Hunger Games’ play caught Blumenthal Arts eye — and money
Blumenthal Arts’ ongoing focus on the world of immersive arts and entertainment is headed to Panem and “The Hunger Games.”
A new theater in London launched the world premiere last week of its immersive “The Hunger Games: On Stage.” It’s the first stage adaptation of Suzanne Collins’ best-selling dystopian book and the 2012 hit movie about kids trying to survive a televised deadly game orchestrated by the elite of their country, Panem.
At Troubadour Canary Wharf Theatre, the show is designed to put the audience in the middle of the nonstop action.
The Blumenthal is so interested in the production and its use of a modular set that can be packed up and moved to other locations that it became an investor in the venue and the show, Blumenthal Arts CEO Tom Gabbard told The Charlotte Observer in an exclusive interview.
“We’re fans of these unique venues,” Gabbard said. “It’s something we’ve looked at carefully for the future here.
“And so we decided to invest in this so we could learn more,” he said. “That’s not to say we’re going to build one of these (venues) here tomorrow. But I do think when we start to really blend immersive and theater at scale, it represents the future.”
Blumenthal Arts invested $100,000 in the show and the theater, Gabbard said. And he intends to be there on opening night, Nov. 12, for what he called “a pretty exciting production.”
What Troubadour Canary Wharf Theatre is doing, he said, represents an attractive approach to immersive and other events that need highly flexible, cost-effective space.
About ‘The Hunger Games’ and Troubadour Canary Wharf Theatre
In the world of Panem, the country is divided into 12 districts. Each district sends two children as tributes to the fight-to-the-death Hunger Games, concocted by the capitol to keep the populace distracted.
Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence’s character in the movies) comes from the poorest district, District 12, and reluctantly becomes the face of the resistance to President Snow and the rest of the capitol.
The show was written by Conor McPherson and directed by Matthew Dunster. Newcomer Mia Carragher stars as Katniss, and producers announced in October that John Malkovich would appear on-screen at every show as the villainous Snow.
One of those producers is Tristan Baker, co-founder of Runaway Entertainment and a veteran of producing shows, including “Girl From the North Country,” “Newsies” and “Guys and Dolls.” He also praised Gabbard, whom he described as a colleague and friend, and said they have collaborated on other projects.
In a recent Zoom interview from the London theater, Baker said his current project takes the audience into the world of “The Hunger Games” in a way a traditionally-built theater with a proscenium stage could not.
“There’s lots of amazing things that happened in ‘The Hunger Games’ that could only really happen in a building of this nature that we’ve managed to construct,” he said.
The theater was designed especially to host this production. Combined, the 1,200-seat, modular theater-in-the-round and “Hunger Games” production cost 26 million pounds, (or nearly $35 million), Baker said.
And while he was quick to point out that the play is not interactive, and theatergoers are not part of the story, “you are immersed in the show. In other words, it’s happening all around you. You’re in the world,” he said. “And I think people are going to love that.”
That includes actors fighting on the walls and on 90-degree angles in front of the upper balcony. Cast members fly all over the theater. And at one point, Baker said, “the seats move from traverse to in the round with the audience in them.”
Immersive entertainment lessons from London
This isn’t the first time Blumenthal Arts has looked to London for immersive inspiration.
It already is importing “The Magicians Table” to Charlotte, where audiences get a close-up view to focus on all the hocus-pocus. Even before that show opens Nov. 19, Blumenthal Arts announced that it was extending the run a month, from Jan. 11 to Feb. 15, 2026.
“The Magicians Table” will unfold at Blume Studios, the $2.5 million immersive entertainment venue that debuted last year in the former Charlotte Pipe & Foundry site in west Charlotte near uptown.
As for “The Hunger Games: On Stage,” Gabbard thinks “it will be something that everybody’s going to be buzzing about.”
Baker said that the play and other immersive experiences would appeal to audiences on both sides of the Atlantic.
“People are more open to new experiences and new challenges in getting their theatrical experiences,” he said. “That’s what we’ve certainly discovered doing the shows that we do since the pandemic.”
Will ‘The Hunger Games’ play come to Charlotte?
Mind you, “The Hunger Games” already has strong ties to the Charlotte region.
The film that kicked off the series was filmed at numerous sites across the region, from uptown Charlotte to Concord, Shelby and Hildebran. The movie still draws tourists looking for places they recognize from the big screen.
One of those sites is the Blumenthal’s own Knight Theater, which doubled as the Capitol site where Caesar Flickerman (Stanley Tucci) interviewed Katniss and Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) about the games.
So, could the play come here eventually? “Fingers crossed,” Gabbard said, but there are no immediate plans for the show to transfer.
For now, he said Blumenthal Arts remains “in the weeds” learning about the show. For instance, Blumenthal Arts is working with a local architecture firm to understand differences in U.S. and U.K. building codes as it examines semi-permanent venues designed to be disassembled, moved and reassembled.
When asked if he’d like to bring “The Hunger Games: On Stage” to Charlotte at some point, Baker said, “Oh absolutely, yeah.
“Charlotte is a great theater city ... Why wouldn’t we? I’d love to do lots of stuff with Charlotte, with Tom, absolutely. I mean, anything is possible.”
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This story was originally published October 27, 2025 at 6:00 AM.
