Henry Naylor’s play, Monstering the Rocketman, makes the trip from the Edinburgh Fringe to London’s Arcola Theatre next month.
“When The Sun falsely accuses Elton John, 39, of “sordid rent boy sex sessions”, the Rocketman blasts it with a whopping multi-million-pound lawsuit…
But for unrepentant editor Kelvin Mackenzie, 40, “Sorry” seems to be the hardest word. He launches a staggering year-long campaign of media harassment, which could break the Rocker.
In the end: is Elton still standing? Or does the Sun go down on him?”
Where: Arcola Theatre
When: 3 – 21 Feb
Ticket link: https://www.arcolatheatre.com/event/monstering-the-rocketman/
Henry tells us more about the show.
How did you come up with the idea to dramatise this period in Elton John’s life?
Well, it’s a story I remember! I lived through it.
It was absolutely extraordinary …
First, The Sun accused Elton John of having rent-boy sex parties.
Then Elton fired back that he hadn’t even been in the country when the alleged parties took place.
It was impossible to know who to believe.
Anyway, after a year of writs and shenanigans – involving Princess Diana, punch-ups, devil dogs and Michael Parkinson – Elton won Britain’s biggest-ever libel payout, and a full front-page apology.
It was an amazing story, and everybody seems to have forgotten it now – so felt compelled to write about it.
To do justice to the topic in 75 minutes is quite a challenge! How did you develop the show to fit the slot?
You’re right! I have to say there was so much material to choose from.
I consciously had to miss out some key elements of the story.
For instance, at the time Elton John was going through a massive divorce, from his wife Renata Blauel. It was a huge story.
But I made a conscious decision not to include it in the play, because I didn’t want to make the show about Elton John’s private life.
If I did, I’d be contradicting one of the main themes – which is about press intrusion.
It would have been hypocritical to have a dig at the tabloids for talking about the sex lives of celebrities… and then write about the sex lives of celebrities!!
Besides, the lifestyles of the rich and famous are covered much better elsewhere – notably in the tabloids themselves!
Monstering The Rocketman was a huge hit at last year’s Edinburgh Fringe. How did that feel, and were you surprised?
I was delighted, of course. Honestly, it’s the best feeling, because you put your life and soul into these shows.
And when you do one which is gets both public AND critical acclaim – there’s nothing better.
Was I surprised? – well, honestly, before you’ve put the show on a stage, you can never quite know whether a story is going to land or not.
You can only write what interests you and hope that other think the same.
Fortunately that was the case – we pretty much sold out our entire run after the first weekend. Was ace.
Tell us about your character and how it fits into the story?
I play a cub reporter called Lynx, who’s ambitious, and determined to make their way in the cut-throat world of the tabloids.
But they’re faced with a dilemma: how far are they prepared to compromise their standards, to land a front-page story?
In terms of the story: the central theme is about the role of the popular press. Should it deliver News, or Entertainment?
Lynx’s paper is obsessed with entertaining its readers – at the expense of traditional News Values… And Lynx becomes increasingly uncomfortable with that..
Lynx’s battle mirrors that of society’s at large …
Dealing with living persons in a story is always tricky. Did you encounter any issues?
Well, the story’s all in the public domain. It’s very well documented. And when talking about real characters, you stick closely to the facts.
In this case, it was quite easy. The key characters are public figures – often appear in interviews – and the audience are familiar with them. Part of the research was trawling through shedloads of YouTube videos.
But for the main part, I spent four months in the British Library trawling through old copies of the tabloids.
Got to be honest, it’s been a massive research job!
And sell us the show in one sentence!
It’s an award-winning play, based on the titanic tussle between the world’s most popular entertainer and the world’s largest daily newspaper.
What’s not to like?