Henry Naylor writes and stars in his own one-person show at Pleasance Ace.  As we queue to enter the studio Crystal Palace are trailing football giants Liverpool in the Community Shield.  The moment we leave, Crystal Palace slot home the winning penalty kick and David defeats Goliath. It feels like a suitable metaphor for this play. Not often would Elton John be seen as a David, a Reg, yes. But when it’s one man versus the Sun he’s got his work cut out to win.

The play retells the challenge facing Elton as he responds to a scurrilous press story, approved by the Sun‘s then editor, the bully boy that is Kelvin Mackenzie, at the height of the paper’s powers in 1987. 12 million readers read its often unresearched stories daily.  This story says that 39-year-old Elton is involved in a vice boy scandal.

Naylor plays a junior hack who’s in week one of his career and has, so far, believed in journalistic integrity.  His terrifying boss has no sense of it. What’s more, Mackenzie is deeply homophobic and he suspects that Elton is gay and will do anything to out him.

The story involves a wide cast of characters including the aforementioned plus Elton and his mum, a seasoned hack called Joan who takes Naylor (Lynx as she christens him) under her wing, and more.

Mackenzie’s vendetta is fuelled by a story that ‘sounded true’ and that’s good enough for him. It starts a tabloids war as the Mirror try to prove that the Sun is lying and poor old Reg gets caught in the middle.

Naylor’s skill is in turning documentary into drama, often very funny drama, voicing his large cast effectively so that, in a whirlwind, we are catapulted into the eye of a storm with Elton at the centre. It proves to be a Damascene moment in Elton’s life because, regardless of the outcome, he realises that it’s time to reposition himself to his adoring public.

The show has already won a Fringe First and adds to Naylor’s impressive Fringe CV. It’s great theatre that proves it’s a bad idea to monster a national treasure.

‘Monstering the Rocketman‘ is at Pleasance Dome – Ace Dome until Sun 24 Aug at 15:10