Review: MONSTERING THE ROCKETMAN at Arcola Theatre

Stuart King 6 February, 2026, 09:01

Over the past 25 years, the Arcola in Dalston has established itself as something of an institution. I consider it relatively local, and certainly in the summer months, will happily stroll to the venue. I’ve often found the bar staff to be a little surly and disinterested, but this evening I was served by a young chap who was engaging, chipper and efficient. Perhaps he was just happy to be indoors on such a miserably inclement evening. On my last visit a couple of weeks ago, I saw Safe Haven which would have been appreciably improved, had it been staged in the larger space. This evening, in the high-ceilinged, cavernous Studio 1 space, I witnessed the one-man Edinburgh Fringe piece MONSTERING THE ROCKETMAN which would most definitely have benefitted from the more intimate confines of the smaller space. Go figure!

monstering the rocketman review Monstering the Rocketman. Photo by Steve Ullathorne.

Henry Naylor has researched and written the piece based largely on Elton John’s 1980s travails with Murdoch’s Sun newspaper and more particularly its rancid, potty-mouth editor Kelvin MacKenzie. Unfortunately, Naylor also believes himself an actor and has mistakenly chosen to perform the piece himself. This was obviously a decision taken for personal reasons, however it became apparent early on, that to do justice to the material and bring it convincingly to life, requires a plethora of fast vocal and physical changes of which he isn’t sufficiently capable. It isn’t so much a play therefore, as a painstakingly researched anecdote.

There’s certainly enough material here to do the subject justice and you undoubtedly feel Naylor’s pangs of conscience steadily developing as he delivers the naive young journo referred to as Lynx (due to wearing excessive deodorant) as he attempts to live up to the memory of his journalist father who was killed by a stray bullet in Soweto. Ironically, the real stars of show (inadvertently and counterintuitively) are the tabloid headlines which periodically flash up onto screens. Fleet Street was awash with alcoholic smart arses back then, who aside from producing a neverending supply of wisecracking, innuendo-laden headlines, thought nothing of paying a rent boy fifty quid to spill the beans about a homo MP or kinky pop hunk.

Anyone who has read Elton John’s page-turner autobiography Me, will recognise much of the self-indulgent, self-doubting, badly behaved, troubled lost soul, of the period covered by the show. They will also recognise the drug-fuelled epiphany moment when he decided to make a stand and fight back against the smears, the bugging, the aggressive homophobia and the incessant attempts to destroy a man who had spent years entertaining millions while carrying the burden of feeling inadequate, ugly, bald, fat and unloveable. As the play rightly points out, his personal quest for justice has laid the groundwork for a far more accountable press.

Everything about the saga — the phone conversations with his mother, the transatlantic chats with writing partner Bernie Taupin, the jaded hack colleagues in the press room — all scream-out for a truly accomplished energised young actor with a gift for delivering voices and characters at pace. The next Jack Holden maybe?

In such a performer’s hands, the material might really achieve the lift-off which it promises. Here’s hoping. As a fan of Elton John (who has a vehement hatred for everything which Rupert Murdoch represents), I for one would be delighted to see Mr Naylor’s efforts realise their full potential.

Directed by Darren Lee Cole with AV design by Iain Pearson, MONSTERING THE ROCKETMAN runs 75min straight through and continues at Arcola until 21st February.