Monstering the Rocketman – Arcola Theatre, London
Monstering the Rocketman at the Arcola Theatre takes on 1980s tabloid journalism through the lens of Elton John and The Sun.
Monstering the Rocketman
I briefly considered sprinkling this review with Elton John puns. It’s easily done, and I’ve seen it work elsewhere in writing about Henry Naylor’s one-man show Monstering the Rocketman, now at the Arcola Theatre. But as overly clever writing feels like one of the things holding this production back, it didn’t seem fair to fall into that same trap.
The premise is immediately engaging. We’re taken back to the 1980s and a battle between The Sun, under editor Kelvin MacKenzie, and Elton John. These were the days when truth mattered little in tabloid journalism. If something sounded true, that was often enough. So when The Sun was offered an Elton John rentboy scandal, it pursued the story with enthusiasm.
The main narrative vehicle is a reporter, nicknamed Lynx, looking back on his early career and how this story became his way into the industry. The distance of time gives him a kind of omniscience, allowing Naylor to jump between characters at speed. We meet everyone from ex-military newspapermen, chain-smoking veteran reporters, dubious sources selling their stories, small-town American businessmen, Sarah Ferguson, members of Elton’s entourage, and even Elton himself, as the relentless pressure pushes him towards disordered eating and suicidal ideation.
It’s a format I can see working well on the fringe, and indeed the show had a strong reception in Edinburgh last year. In a more traditional theatre space, I found it less effective. I wanted to like it, but some of the characterisations felt a little flat. The writing leans heavily on jokes, not always to great effect, and it’s a style that I suspect works better on the page than live. When Naylor, moving at pace, inevitably trips over the occasional name or word, it becomes easy to lose the thread of a scene.
The Bones of Something Good
That said, there are the bones of something good here. I’m just about old enough to remember the period being referenced, but I didn’t live in the UK at the time, so much of this story was new to me. I know something about Rupert Murdoch’s Fortress Wapping. I certainly remember the slow collapse of this brand of tabloid journalism, culminating in the Leveson Inquiry. But the show also touches on homophobia, media responses to the AIDS crisis, and our current world of 24/7 online news. These ideas surface briefly, but they could do with deeper exploration.
I also struggled with the projected newspaper headlines and front pages. My seat allowed me to see both sides of the space, something not possible for everyone given the Arcola’s former factory layout. I kept looking from side to side to check whether the projections were the same or different. A few times, I even started reading the articles, which pulled focus from the performance. There’s also a moment where sexualised images of a teenager appear on screen. It’s relevant to the plot, but I found it a little ill-judged to reproduce.
So yes, Monstering the Rocketman has the bones of something worthwhile. Simply lifting a fringe show into a conventional theatre setting doesn’t quite work here. With Henry Naylor’s track record, though, I’m sure there’s a version of this piece that could. I appreciated the ambition and the subject matter, even if the execution didn’t fully land for me.
Salterton Arts Review’s Rating: 2.5/5
Monstering the Rocketman on until 21 February 2026. More info and tickets here.