JOHN MALKOVICH
TO PLAY
PRESIDENT SNOW
FEATURED ON A SCREEN
IN THE GLOBAL STAGE PREMIERE OF
THE HUNGER GAMES:
ON STAGE
Based on Suzanne Collins’s Acclaimed Book
& Lionsgate’s Blockbuster Film
Adapted by Olivier Award-winning playwright CONOR McPHERSON
Directed by MATTHEW DUNSTER
TROUBADOUR CANARY WHARF THEATRE
Performances begin on 20 October 2025
The renowned film and stage actor John Malkovich will play President Coriolanus Snow. The iconic character will be featured on a screen in the first-ever stage adaptation of Suzanne Collins’ internationally acclaimed book The Hunger Games and Lionsgate’s hit motion picture of the same name.
Malkovich will join the widely anticipated new production, with his performance appearing on screen at every show, creating an unforgettable stage meets screen spectacle.
Malkovich said: ‘I’m delighted to join the World Premiere production of The Hunger Games in London, bringing this iconic story to the stage. Playing President Coriolanus Snow will be thrilling, because I have long been an admirer of Suzanne Collins’s novels, the films and Conor McPherson’s writing, and it is a privilege to take on this role.’
John Malkovich joins Mia Carragher as Katniss Everdeen, Euan Garrett as Peeta Mellark, Joshua Lacey as Haymitch Abernathy, Tristan Waterson as Gale Hawthorne, Tamsin Carroll as Effie Trinket, Stavros Demetraki as Caesar Flickerman, Nathan Ives-Moiba as Cinna & Mayor, Sophia Ally as Prim Everdeen & Ensemble, and Ruth Everett as Mrs. Everdeen & Ensemble.
The cast is completed by Aiya Agustin (Rue), Geo Bailey (Swing), Alexandra Barredo (Ensemble), Imogen Brooke (Ensemble), Liana Cottrill (Clove), Kyerron Dixon-Bassey (Swing), Lewis Easter (Marvel), Felix Garcia Guyer (Chief of Staff, Ensemble & Fight Captain), Marcellus Hill (Thresh), Matthew Ives (Swing & Swing Captain), Jessica Lee (Tippet), Mariana Lewis (Glimmer), Kiera Milward (Swing), Felipe Pacheo (Cato & Fight Captain), Redmond Rance (Stele), Nathanael Saleh (Swing), Mark Samaras (Drove), Artemis Stamouli (Fossa & Movement Captain) and Rory Toms (Fila.)
Performances for this highly-anticipated production will begin at the Troubadour Canary Wharf Theatre on Monday, 20 October 2025.
The state-of-the-art Troubadour Canary Wharf Theatre is a brand-new 1,200 seat purpose-built, dynamic theatre-in-the-round venue designed especially to host this production. The theatre, which is situated right in the heart of London’s vibrant Canary Wharf will put spectators into the heart of the action.
Conor McPherson has adapted the first book from Suzanne Collins’s epic series and the first film from Lionsgate’s iconic film franchise for this live theatrical production. The production will be helmed by renowned director Matthew Dunster (2:22 – A Ghost Story, Hangmen, The Pillowman and most recently Hedda at Theatre Royal Bath), with a world-class creative team who will bring the show to life.
The Hunger Games franchise encompasses five critically acclaimed novels that have sold over 100 million copies worldwide and been translated into 52 languages as well as a blockbuster film franchise that has grossed more than $3.4 billion at the global box office. Suzanne Collins’s latest Hunger Games novel, Sunrise on the Reaping, was published by Scholastic in March and will be adapted into a major motion picture event to be released by Lionsgate on November 20, 2026.
Tickets for The Hunger Games: On Stage are on sale at www.thehungergamesonstage.com.
Joining McPherson and Dunster on the creative team for Hunger Games on Stage are Miriam Buether (set designer), Moi Tran (costume designer), Charlotte Broom (choreographer), Lucy Carter (lighting designer), Ian Dickinson for Autograph (sound designer), Tal Rosner (video designer), Chris Fisher (illusions), Kev McCurdy (fight director), Suspended Illusions (performer flying), James Maloney (arranger, musical director & additional compositions), Amy Ball CDG (casting director), James Robert Moore (associate director), Robyn Grant (creative assistant director), Luke Smith (associate set designer) and Lloyd Thomas (production manager).
In a dystopian future, The Hunger Games ignite a thrilling battle for survival, where 24 young tributes are pitted against each other in an arena to fight to the death. Katniss Everdeen, a fearless and resourceful heroine, emerges as a symbol of rebellion as she fights not only for her life but for the hope of a nation oppressed by a ruthless Capitol. In a brand-new epic stage production, The Hunger Games: On Stage is a gripping tale of courage, defiance, and the unbreakable human spirit.
The Hunger Games: On Stage is produced by Oliver Royds, Tristan Baker and Charlie Parsons for Runaway Entertainment, Isobel David, Timothy Laczynsii and Umeda Arts Theater, by arrangement with Lionsgate.
John Malkovich Biography
John Malkovich began his career as an actor, director and original member of the Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago. There he acted in numerous plays, including True West, Of Mice and Men, The Libertine, The Glass Menagerie, Big Mother, The Dumb Waiter and many more. As a director at Steppenwolf, he staged many plays, including Absent Friends, No Man’s Land, The Caretaker, Coyote Ugly, A Prayer for My Daughter, The House, Hysteria, Balm in Gilead, and, with the American novelist Don Delillo, he adapted and directed Libra. He began acting in movies in 1983, the first being The Killing Fields. He has since appeared in numerous films including Places in the Heart, Death of a Salesman The Ogre, Dangerous Liaisons, The Object of Beauty, Empire of the Sun, Con Air, Being John Malkovich, In the Line of Fire, Le Temps Retrouve, Klimt, Film Falado, Je Rentre a la Maison, Mary Reilly, Rounders, the Great Buck Howard, Burn After Reading, Red, Red 2 and Deepwater Horizon, in addition to another 70-80 films.
He has also worked as a fashion designer, having designed 24 menswear collections, and as a producer in both theatre and film. With his production partners Lianne Halfon and Russell Smith, their company Mr Mudd produced Ghost World, Juno, Art School Confidential, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Demolition and a number of documentaries. He directed one feature length film, The Dancer Upstairs, as well as being in collaboration with the fashion designer, Bella Freud: Straphanging, Lady Behave and Hideous Man. Over the last decade, he’s worked extensively with colleagues in the field of classical music, creating with them a number of hybrid pieces including three pieces with conductor Martin Haselblock and writer/director Michael Sturminger: The Infernal Comedy, the Giacomo Variations and Just Call me God. He still tours with a piece called Report on the Blind, which he performs with Russian pianist Anastasia Terankova. He also tours with a piece from the composer/violinist Aleksey Igudesman: The Music Critic.
He shot seven movies and three television series in the last few years, including two seasons of Billions, and three episodes of the BBC adaptation of the Agatha Christie novel The ABC Murders. He appeared in Bird Box for Netflix and finished the series The New Pope, directed by Paolo Sorrentino. He directed three plays in Paris over the last decade, as well as one in Spain and one in Mexico City. In 2016, he directed a play at the Rose theatre in Kingston: The Good Canary, written by Zach Helm. He has also worked with the writers Christopher Hampton, Tom Stoppard, Harold Pinter, Terry Johnson, Stephen Jeffries, Sarah Phelps, Neil Cross, Sam Shepard, Robert Benton and Landford, and the directrors Manuel de Oliveira, Joe and Ethan Coen, Alex Gabassi, Raul Ruiz, Bernardo Bertolucci, Michelangelo Antonioni, Stephen Frears, Nicholas Roeg, Volker Schlondorff, Stephen Spielberg, Susanne Bier, Lilianna Cavani, Spike Jonze, Jane Campion, and Paulo Sorrentino.
Bitter Wheat was John’s first opportunity to work with David Mamet and marked his return to the West End after a very long absence. He can most recently be seen as one of the stars of Netflix’s Space Force, which recently released its second season.