Suzanne Hawkes reviews Catcher for East Anglia Times:-

"This is a play that has been in development for a year and the time spent has obviously paid off. Tightly written, tightly directed and sensitively portrayed, this is a claustrophobic hot house of a piece that draws you in and twangs at your nerves.

It is December 7 1980. Mark Chapman calls a prostitute to his room. The next day he shoots John Lennon dead outside the Dakota building. No one knows who that woman was – she never sold her story – so this is a fictional take on what happened in that hotel room on that fateful night.

Mitzi Jones plays the woman – beginning with her looking older and faded, coming back to the hotel room years later, desperate to tell someone what happened. Enter Chapman, already looking slightly unhinged, he rings for a companion, she metamorphosis’s before our eyes into a beautiful young tart in a green dress. And so it begins.

Ronan Summers was outstanding as Chapman, basing all his actions on the book Catcher in the Rye, believing he hears voices of people living in his bedroom walls, always on the verge of hysteria but timing his descent so that the build up to total paranoia is more frightening as we experience it along with the woman he nicknames Sunny. Jones too is a stunning actress and brought pathos, world weariness, sassiness and vulnerability to the role of the bystander caught up in the maelstrom of someone else’s delusions. She is almost hostage to his will, but not quite – yet does her escape bring down the events or could she have stopped them? And is it better to pay the price of fame or obscurity?

Interesting questions asked by a first rate piece of drama".
http://www.eadt.co.uk/entertainment/interesting_questions_about_lennon_s_murd...

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Click below for the full article

http://www.whatsonstage.com/index.php?pg=207&story=E8831276520093&title=Setti...

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http://gpearce.blogspot.com/2010/06/best-and-worst-of-pulse-fringe-festival.html
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"This is one of those rare performances that is faultless, with all elements of the production coming together beautifully. Pilot Theatre Company are currently touring catcher on a mini tour but this show will surely go onto a much longer and larger life. There are few days still to go but it will take something extremely special to oust Catcher from its spot as the highlight of the Pulse Fringe Festival." Sent using BlackBerry® from Orange

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Lighting Designer Chris and DSM Sam take a break having finished the Get-In in the pouring rain!
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Yesterday's 2pm show was streamed live from York Theatre Royal Studio. http://pilot-theatre.tv

That marked the penultimate performance in York. A big thank you to all of the Pilot Theatre team and to everyone who works in York Theatre Royal for being such fabulous hosts.

AND a big thank you to everyone who came to see the show. You, the audience, played the most important role and gave the production its momentum and force. It always amazes me how a group of individuals gather together at a certain time and place for no purpose other than to see the performance and share a collective behaviour - laughter becomes infectious, dramatic moments become heightened and the consciousness of the play bounces from the actor to the viewer to the actor. As the director the audience sharpens my artistic self-awareness. So on so many levels thank you. Next stop for Catcher is the Pulse Festival. Tuesday 8th June.

http://www.pulsefringe.com/?lid=1685#booknow

Please continue to spread the word.

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“Don’t need a gun to blow your mind oh no, oh no.

I had the pleasure of seeing a terrific new play this weekend at York Theatre Royal. It was called ‘Catcher – Before Chapman Shot Lennon‘. As many of you know, Mark David Chapman, the man who murdered John Lennon was obsessed with J D Salinger’s ‘Catcher In The Rye’ The book was in his possession when he shot Lennon, in fact it is said that after he fired those fatal shots he sat down to read the book until the police came. I think he was obsessed with Holden Caulfield, the book’s principal character as well as with fame itself. Before he killed John Lennon he had previously been photographed with Stephen King and Bob Dylan amongst others. Click here to read a really strange and frankly highly unbelievable conspiracy theory that it was Stephen King that shot John Lennon. Personally I think this is complete and utter tosh!

Anyway, back to the play. It is believed that Chapman hired a prostitute and had her come to his hotel on the night before the killing. This woman has never been found and has never made herself known. The play is based on the conversations that Chapman my have had with his hooker in his room. There are just two actors in the whole play which lasts 75 minutes. Mitzi Jones plays the prostitute, both as her older self narrating past events and as her younger self in the room with Chapman. The way she portrays both characters is phenomenal, with just a few simple changes to her clothes and hair, which for me proves how talented an actress she is. Ronan Summers plays Chapman and he, like Mitzi, is brilliant. Very intense and he really seems to capture the potential madness and imbalance in Chapman’s personality.

Obviously as a music fan I was keen to see this play and I would like to thank Rachel V for booking it for us (Rachel, Catwoman and me). If you get the chance to see it you really should, I am sure you won’t be disappointed. You can read a couple of reviews of the play here; One in the York Press and the other from The Stage". Just William.
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