Henry Naylor in Monstering the Rocketman [Steve Ullathorne]

INSPIRED by a true story from the 1980s, Henry Naylor’s one-man show Monstering the Rocket Man revisits the British libel case Elton John vs The Sun. When the tabloid falsely accuses 39-year-old Elton of “bonking rent boys”, it has a circulation of 12 million.

Devastated, Elton threatens legal action, but rottweiler editor Kelvin Mackenzie remains unrepentant, launching a sustained, vitriolic homophobic campaign against the pop star.

The paper’s 23-month onslaught triggers a litany of readers’ complaints, while The Daily Mirror takes Elton’s side and mounts a counter-attack on The Sun.

The tide finally turns after a Michael Parkinson interview highlights the singer’s altruistic work, and an ambitious Sun journalist sees another way to make headlines without destroying a reputation.

Using this landmark case from the 80s, and playing every character himself, Naylor spotlights the media’s impunity at the time – printing stories that were unverified, sensationalised or simply invented – while also foreshadowing the rampant misinformation and toxicity of today’s social-media landscape.

Reconfigured from its acclaimed Edinburgh Fringe run, Darren Lee Cole’s well-paced, 75-minute production has some sightline issues: Two screens project the newspaper headlines, one of which is only partially visible from certain seats.

Naylor inhabits the various roles with gusto, though occasional fluffed lines are surprising, given he wrote the play.

We already know the outcome – Elton won the lawsuit, and The Sun was ordered to pay compensation and issue a front-page apology – yet the retelling is compelling.

Until February 21
arcolatheatre.com