REVIEW: Monstering Rocket Man at Arcola 3-21 February 2026

‘Ferrets, lies and the glory days of The Sun’ ★★★ ½    

1987. The Sun Newspaper runs a salacious story about Elton John sleeping with a rent boy. John provides clear evidence that he was halfway around the world and nowhere near where the incident was said to have occurred. But Sun Editor Kelvin Mackenzie doesn’t care about truth. He is only interested in selling stories, whether they are true or not and regardless of who is damaged in the process.

Thus begins a battle between The Sun running story after fabricated story about Elton John and the Mirror newspaper countering with evidence and John’s side of the story.

Monstering Rocket Man is not really about Elton John. It is about the corruption and ultimate redemption of a young cub reporter nicknamed Lynx, who is desperate to prove himself in the sleazy, expletive fuelled world of 1980s tabloids.

Henry Naylor both wrote and performed Monstering Rocket Man. The writing is exceptional, with multiple characters knitted together to make up a rich tapestry within which Lynx’ story unfolds. It was very well researched, and images of the newspaper headlines from the stories he described flashed up on a screen throughout the show.

In performance, I don’t know if it was tiredness, and Naylor certainly sounded vocally strained, but he stumbled over his lines too often. His high energy was great, but in his attempts to be fast paced, Naylor ended up rushing and scrambling through many of his lines. The show would have benefited from varying the tempo occasionally.

All in all, this was a fascinating show, shining a light on an era of tabloid journalism, the consequences of which reverberate to this day in the phone hacking trials and the way fake news have become a staple of social media.

Well worth seeing, though the show would be stronger if Naylor just slowed down a little.

Monstering Rocket Man by Henry Naylor, Arcola Theatre, 3-21 February 2026

BOX OFFICE https://www.arcolatheatre.com/event/monstering-the-rocketman/#event-booking

Performer and writer:  Henry Naylor

Director:    Darren Lee Cole

AV Designer:                Iain Pearson

Photography:  Steve Ellathorne

Reviewer: Srabani Sen

Srabani is a theatre actress and playwright. As an actress she has performed at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse (The Globe), the Arcola, Southwark Playhouse, The Pleasance and numerous fringe theatres, in a range of roles from Shakespeare to plays by new and emerging writers. She has written several short and full length plays. Her play Tawaif was longlisted for the ETPEP Finborough award, and her play Vijaya was shortlisted for the Sultan Padamsee Playwrights Award in Mumbai.