\t\t\t\t\t\u2018The Hunger Games: On Stage.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJohan Persson\/\u00a9 2025 Lions Gate Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n \n\tBelow, the actress talks about the making of The Hunger Games: On Stage<\/em> and the buzz around the show. She reveals some of the A-list stars to have come and watched, which sequence is the trickiest to get right each night and why fans are flocking to see how this world-renowned tale can be told in front of a live audience: \u201cThere\u2019s people that have traveled from America just to come and watch \u2014 it makes you think, \u2018This means so much to so many people.’\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tHi, Mia! I\u2019d love to know about your relationship to The Hunger Games <\/em>books and films. Were you a fan before this role came along?<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tYeah, I was a fan of the films and I\u2019m obsessed with Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson\u2019s [movies]. I would re-watch them all the time. I remember they were on Netflix for a while. I think they\u2019ve been taken off Netflix now. It\u2019s one of those films that, no matter how many times you\u2019ve watched it, it\u2019s like, \u201cOh, let\u2019s just put it on again.\u201d You can never get bored of it. So then when the audition came about, I was like, \u201cWhat?\u201d At first I was so curious [about] how they were going to do it on stage. And then when the audition came through, that\u2019s when I was like, \u201cOh my god, I need to read these books as many times as possible to prep.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tWhat was the timeline there? When did you first hear that they were holding auditions for it, and when did you find out you\u2019d got it?<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tIt was in January. So I was on holiday in Thailand, and I think the audition came through and it was for the day after I got back from Thailand. The whole last week when I was on holiday, I was trying to prep as much as I could, but it was just a movement call, so I didn\u2019t get any sides [a few excerpts from a script] or anything. I just knew that if I was going to read, it was going to be for Katniss. So when I went into the movement call, I tried to just embody her.<\/p>\n \n\tAnd I think\u2014\u00a0I mean, it did go well, because then when I was on my way home, my agent rang me and said, \u201cCan you read tomorrow for Katniss?\u201d I was like, \u201cOh my god!\u201d And then my mum and dad were in London for Valentine\u2019s Day, and I crashed and stayed in their hotel. [Laughs<\/em>.] Then I read, and it went well. A couple weeks later, I read again, then we did a fight call, and that was with Kev [McCurdy], our fight director. And again, I went into that trying to embody Katniss in the fights. After that we did harness work. I mean, you\u2019ve seen the show \u2014 I need to be good [at] flying and things. Two weeks later, I got the call.<\/p>\n \n\tOh wow. I mean, I know you\u2019ve got a background in performance \u2014 you went to Tring, so you\u2019ve got dancing, singing, all of it under your belt. When you were in the early rehearsal stages for this show, was the physicality daunting or just exciting?<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tEven at first when I read the script, I don\u2019t think I realized. Because obviously you\u2019re just reading stage directions and script and then going in the rehearsal room and seeing how physical it was gonna be\u2026 But I was kind of excited, because all my training could be used for this role.<\/p>\n \n\tDo you remember the moment you found out you\u2019d got the role?<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tYeah. I had some kind of idea. You just get a little feeling\u2026 I couldn\u2019t explain it. I\u2019ve maybe had it with other things before, but never this much. And then a couple days before, Matthew, the director, followed me on Instagram. And then I was checking to see who he follows, and he\u2019d followed a couple of other people, and I was like, \u201cMaybe they\u2019ve got it.\u201d It was two days later, I took myself on a walk because I couldn\u2019t think straight. I didn\u2019t know what to do. And my agent called me \u2014\u00a0both my agents, on a joint call. I think I was like, the street away from my house. So I sprinted home, and then FaceTimed my mum and dad. I was so excited.<\/p>\n \n\tIs this your first theater role?<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tI\u2019ve done other, smaller bits. But this is my debut in professional theater.<\/p>\n \n\tSo what kind of prep went into your Katniss? Because this is maybe quite a different Katniss to Jennifer Lawrence\u2019s Katniss.<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tYes!<\/p>\n \n\tDid you want to make it different?<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tIn my head, I wanted to make it my own and see what I could do with the character, but also, with the material that I had and how we were performing it \u2014 on stage and in the purpose-built theater \u2014\u00a0there was no other option than to have a different version of [her]. You\u2019ve got the inner monologue, the talking to the audience, which I really enjoyed. Before rehearsal, I did as much as I could: reading the books, trying to get as much information [as possible]. But then in the rehearsal process, I think I really just found my way with the script, written by Conor McPherson and then Matthew Dunster, the director. Being in the space, especially, I think helped all of us a lot.<\/p>\n \n\tDid you rehearse in the theater?<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tWe did six weeks in a studio, and then we had quite a long tech [rehearsal]. It was three or four weeks of tech rehearsal. On the first preview, we did a dress rehearsal. That was the day of the first preview. And that was the first time we\u2019d ever done the play as everything all together, because it was so tech heavy, it took us so long to put it all together.<\/p>\n \n\tIt really is impressively tech-heavy. There is so many things to think about at once and whoever is in charge of that operation has nerves of steel. Before we discuss, a quick note on your very convincing American accent. As a scouser no less! Did you have a coach?<\/strong> <\/p>\n \n\tI actually went to New York to study acting at [the] Lee Strasberg [Theatre & Film Institute]. So I was around a lot of American people there. While I was there, I did accent lessons to help with the American accent, because we do a lot of scene work, and because people were American, I\u2019d try and match it. I think I\u2019m a big listener, so listening to that helped me.<\/p>\n \n\tFor this, we did have an accent coach, but to be honest, it was on very little things where it was little words that I needed to make sure that I was saying the proper American way, so no one was like, \u201cShe\u2019s not American.\u201d But honestly, it came quite naturally, which I was quite glad about.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\tEuan Garrett, Mia Carragher as Peeta Mellark and Katniss Everdeen in \u2018The Hunger Games: On Stage\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJohan Persson\/\u00a9 2025 Lions Gate Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n \n\tIs it muscle memory now you\u2019ve done it so many times?<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tIt\u2019s so funny, I think the other day, our associate director said, \u201cWe\u2019ve done 50 shows.\u201d And I was like, \u201cWhat the hell?\u201d You don\u2019t even think. It literally just comes out of your body.<\/p>\n \n\tThere\u2019s the tech, art, props, choreography, so much to think about. How many months were you in rehearsal and who were the formative voices through the decision-making<\/strong> of shaping such a physical show?<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tSo we began rehearsing at the beginning of August, and then the first preview was the 20th of October. So nearly three months.<\/p>\n \n\tThat\u2019s not even that long<\/strong>!<\/p>\n \n\tIt\u2019s actually not. And we\u2019re creating a whole new play. So I was really thankful [that] Matthew, the director, he had a really strong idea of how he wanted everything to go. And I\u2019d done a couple workshops before rehearsal. They had a strong plan about what they were going to do when we went into it, which I think was super helpful. We also had a movement director, Charlotte Broom, our fight director Kev and we had an illusions [creative, Chris Fisher] \u2014 every possible department. Then we\u2019d all come together in rehearsal. But obviously, Matthew always made the final decision. It was crazy to see in previews how much [the show] changed.<\/p>\n \n\tWhat do you mean by that?<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tI think the first preview was nearly three and a half hours long. We cut, like, 45 minutes off the play. So in previews, when we\u2019re performing of a night, we\u2019d be there all day chopping and changing things around. So the beginning is I come up from sub-stage by myself. But at first it started with all of the tributes coming up, and we did a distorted version of the beginning of act two, where we\u2019re in the games and it was shown as a nightmare scene. Then one day we just came in and they were like, \u201cYeah, that\u2019s not the beginning anymore.\u201d And we were all just, \u201cOh, okay!\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tSomething that I was so impressed with was everyone\u2019s fitness. I was thinking about you guys just running around for three hours.<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tThe first time we did it, I was dead. Like, exhausted. And there\u2019s moments where I\u2019m running around and then I have to stop and speak for ages. The first few times I was like, \u201cI don\u2019t know how I\u2019m gonna speak, I\u2019m so out of breath!\u201d But I think I\u2019ve definitely got play fit. My body knows everything that\u2019s happening now, so I\u2019ve definitely gotten used to it. But sometimes, even when we have just the one day off a week, and then we go back to do it on the Tuesday, I\u2019m like, \u201cGod, that was hard just having one day off.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tWhich sequence do you find the most stressful?<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tI think the beginning of act two\u2026<\/p>\n \n\tThe fight at the cornucopia?<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tYeah, there\u2019s so many different fights. So as well as doing your own fight, you have to be so aware of what\u2019s going on around you. There\u2019s blood packs [used], so there\u2019s blood all over the floor. There\u2019s a few times where a few of us have actually slipped, because we haven\u2019t looked down to see where the blood\u2019s been splattered. And then, when the tracker jacker nest comes down.<\/p>\n \n\tIt\u2019s so clever, but I am sending thoughts and prayers to whoever is in charge of health and safety! What\u2019s your favorite sequence?<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tThe bit that really stands out to me is the bit when Thresh lets me go. Obviously, there\u2019s emotional bits [of the show] and sometimes it can be hard to reach that state every night. But that is always a moment that gets me where I don\u2019t even have to try too hard to get to an emotional point. It\u2019s near the end of the play as well and I think my body knows I\u2019m nearly there. [Laughs<\/em>.]<\/p>\n \n\tHave you been pleased by the reaction to the show?<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tAnyone that I\u2019ve met outside after the theater, at the stage door, or people [who have] messaged me\u2026 I\u2019ve had the nicest messages. And I think the ones that really mean the most to me is a lot of young girls, when they come to watch and they say, \u201cOh, that\u2019s what I want to do when I\u2019m older,\u201d or, \u201cYou\u2019ve really inspired me,\u201d or \u201cKatniss has showed me that I can do this.\u201d They\u2019re the messages where I\u2019m like, \u201cOh, my god, that is so lovely.\u201d And every time I see younger people in the audience, if I\u2019m finding it hard that day, it keeps me going.<\/p>\n \n\tThe Hunger Games <\/em>IP is so popular, so it\u2019s no wonder people have been flocking to it. When you were rehearsing, did you know you were making something that was going to attract so many fans?<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tI knew it was going to be so cool and loads of people there, but there\u2019s people that have traveled from America just to come and watch this specifically. I\u2019m like, \u201cWhat?\u201d Or people just traveling from other countries, or even coming down from Scotland just for the day to come and watch. And it makes you think, \u2018This means so much to so many people.\u2019<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\tJohn Malkovich as President Snow in \u2018The Hunger Games: On Stage.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJohan Persson\/\u00a9 2025 Lions Gate Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n \n\tI think it also really helps to have John Malkovich there \u2014\u00a0that big name attached. Did you get to meet him?<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tYeah, I did. In our scenes we talk, but obviously he\u2019s on the screen. So when he went to record it, we stood behind the camera and read the lines and that was just so cool. We were all like [widens eyes<\/em>], but he was so nice to everyone. We were all a bit nervous, but he made everyone feel comfortable.<\/p>\n \n\tIf you could play any other character, though, who would you choose?<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tGod, we like to say this all the time. Who would we want to be? This is so not possible, but I think Caesar [Flickerman] just seems like such a fun role. The interaction with the audience. I think Clove, one of the tributes, is a really cool role as well. I think Cato and Clove have a lovely relationship, and I think it\u2019s really shown in our play as well.<\/p>\n \n\tYou\u2019re right. She has her knives, which is very cool. But Katniss has her bow! Did you take archery lessons for this?<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tYeah, I did. I did a few weeks of a course before I moved to London, and then, it\u2019s so funny \u2014 the other day, the people who taught me archery traveled from Liverpool to come watch. I was literally shaking while I was doing it. I was so scared they were gonna be like, \u201cThat\u2019s wrong!\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tYou made it look so effortless. I was trying to figure out how all of the illusions were done \u2014\u00a0including with the bow \u2014 but it really speaks to the work of the prop department, the illusions team. Everything is so meticulously choreographed and designed.<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tThere\u2019s so many. You will have seen the openings in the floor and things coming up, and we can\u2019t leave anything in the wrong place on stage, because it could be covering a trap on the floor, and then they\u2019d have to do a show stop because they can\u2019t go into the next scene if we\u2019ve left something there by accident.<\/p>\n \n\tHave you had to do show stops?<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\t[Nods<\/em>.] There\u2019s a moment with the career tributes where a campfire comes up and someone had accidentally left a prop on it, so they couldn\u2019t bring the campfire up. And then when Rue comes on and she\u2019s like, \u201cThe smoke from the campfire!\u201d it\u2019s kind of like, \u2018Oh, this doesn\u2019t make sense.\u2019 Yesterday we had a show stop because when the bags come down, there\u2019s the moment where Thresh lets me go and he comes from the ceiling. And something happened with the wire so he couldn\u2019t get down. But it\u2019s really important for him to get Clove off me in that scene. There\u2019s no other way we could go about it. So they had to stop.<\/p>\n \n\tHow do you find that? Are you just told to stay put? \u201cTechnical issues\u201d?<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tYeah, sometimes you feel like you\u2019re so into it, and then it\u2019s like, \u2018Wait, did I just hear something?\u2019 Then you hear the stage manager being like, \u201cStop, stop, please leave the stage.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tFascinating. Do you have a favorite costume?<\/strong> There\u2019s some crackers when you\u2019re in the Capitol.<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tThe interview dress is really gorgeous. And then the chariot one is really cool as well. That skirt that I\u2019ve got on has plugs coming out of it. So then when I do get onto the chariot, me and Euan, who plays Peeta, we literally get plugged into it so that the smoke can come out of us and we light up.<\/p>\n \n\tIs it a real fire?<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tIt\u2019s smoke and then with the lights, it gives it an orangey tone, so it looks like fire. But when the floor and everything goes on fire, we can really feel the heat, even when we\u2019re on the chariot.<\/p>\n \n\tI\u2019m assuming you are not scared of heights\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tNo. [Laughs<\/em>.] I mean, in tech rehearsals, sometimes when we do it with the house lights on, that would scare me more in a way. But when it\u2019s dark, I\u2019ve got so many other things to think about when I\u2019m that high up.<\/p>\n \n\tHas anyone famous come to see the show?<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tIan McKellen came the other day. It was funny, no one knew he was there. And then in the beginning of act one, I went off for a quick change, and someone was like, \u201cIan McKellen\u2019s here.\u201d But I was so confused\u2026 Euan was like, \u201cHe\u2019s on this row. Look there.\u201d That was so cool. And then on press night, Lily Allen came, which was really cool, because at the time we were all listening to her new album on repeat.<\/p>\n \n\tDid you get to meet any of them after the show?<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tWe went and told our company manager, Kate, that Ian McKellen was there. Then after the show, she went up to him and said, \u201cThe cast would love to get a picture.\u201d So he came and met us backstage.<\/p>\n \n\tHow lovely. The production has probably been helped as well by the buzz around Sunrise on the Reaping<\/em>. Have you read it yet?<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tNo, I haven\u2019t read it yet, but I\u2019m really excited to watch the film.<\/p>\n \n\tYou need to read it before you watch!<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tI should, because I\u2019ve spoken a lot to Josh [Lacey], who plays Haymitch [in the production]. I am really, super excited. In this play, we have a lot of Easter eggs to the other books. When Effie says, \u201cHappy Birthday!\u201d to Haymitch and things like that. I am really excited. I\u2019m going to make sure I read it before I watch it.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\tTributes fight to the death in \u2018The Hunger Games: On Stage.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJohan Persson\/\u00a9 2025 Lions Gate Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n \n\tHave you met any of the cast members from the films?<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tI met Josh Hutcherson because I did a film with him. It was a few months before I did the audition for this, it was a film called Let\u2019s Love<\/em> by Jamie Adams. It was an improv film, and I just had a small role, but I had a scene with him. In [the scene], I had to get a picture with him. It was so funny. When I found out I\u2019d got the role, I was like, \u2018I swear I\u2019ve got a picture with Josh Hutcherson.\u2019 I found it on my phone.<\/p>\n \n\tFinally, then, when does the show end?<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tMost of our contracts are for a year.<\/p>\n \n\tWhat would the dream be for after this? Would you want to take it to Broadway, or do something in TV and film?<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tI think I\u2019ll always be connected to this in a way. And if it did go to Broadway or New York, I\u2019d so be like, \u201cPlease take me!\u201d That\u2019d be so fun. But no, I\u2019d love to do TV and film as well and I still would love to do stage. Honestly, anything. But I think because of how fulfilling this role is, I\u2019d want to do something that really fulfilled me in every aspect.<\/p>\n \n\tThe Hunger Games: On Stage <\/em>is currently running at the Troubadour Canary Wharf Theatre.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" If you\u2019ve been to London recently, you\u2019ll have likely heard about The Hunger Games: On Stage. Plastered on billboards, across buses and filling our TikTok feeds are ads for the city\u2019s hottest new theater ticket: A seat in The Hunger Games arena, in a world-first adaptation of Suzanne Collins\u2018 smash-hit dystopian franchise that sees 24 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4053,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[3954,3956,308,307,3955,326,1762,813],"class_list":["post-4052","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fashion","tag-carragher","tag-everdeen","tag-games","tag-hunger","tag-katniss","tag-meet","tag-mia","tag-stage"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4052","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4052"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4052\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4054,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4052\/revisions\/4054"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/wp-content\/themes\/vip\/pmc-hollywoodreporter-2021\/assets\/public\/lazyload-fallback.gif\")
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