Edinburgh Fringe 2025 reviews - Monstering the Rocketman by Henry Naylor / Alex Berr

Monstering the Rocketman by Henry Naylor, Pleasance Dome ★★★★

Henry Naylor doesn’t hold back in his latest Fringe offering, an entertaining monologue in which he examines The Sun’s treatment of Elton John in the 1980s, an era when tabloids reigned supreme in the UK media – and trust in them started to erode.

Against an onstage projection of screaming tabloid headlines from the era, Naylor tells the tale through the eyes of a keen young reporter hoping to make his mark in his first week at The Sun, then edited by the abrasive Kelvin MacKenzie – “The most foul-mouthed man in Britain” as Naylor has it, although those of us who have worked in various newsrooms may beg to differ…

The monstering in question – an entirely made-up tale of Elton John using rent boys – ran without being properly checked. The undercurrent to this was the undisguised homophobia that ran through much of the tabloid press at the time; Naylor suggests that the paper's lawyers thought the singer wouldn’t sue, as he wouldn’t want to go through a potentially embarrassing court case.

The paper was wrong and the parties eventually settled.

Naylor voices many roles – other tabloid journalists, MacKenzie, Elton John’s mum, rent boys and others – as he tells a riveting tale involving celebrity excess, the Aids crisis and press ethics. The media world has changed beyond recognition since the events described here, but Naylor leaves us with the question of whether a MacKenzie-like figure could exist today.

• Until 24 August
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Alex Berr Just the Tonic, @ Mash House ★★★

Alex Berr has possibly the most unusual backstory at the Fringe; a PhD-level scientist, she used to be a cancer researcher investigating brain and lung tumours. And in How to Kill a Mouse, she describes her previous life.

But it’s not just that. It’s about dating and family ties and bereavement, with a decent dose of musing on what life is about and why, ultimately, her high-flying career had become "just a job". If that makes it sound overly serious, it isn’t as Berr is a warm and funny presence on stage and leavens the serious stuff with some cracking gallows humour.

She also wryly describes her teenage years and worrying what boyfriends thought about her, her experience of body dysmorphia and being an overachiever.

Berr talks about the shocking coincidence that her mum died from the very cancer that she was trying to cure, and threaded through this tale is a daughter’s love for a mother who not only influenced Berr’s life, but many others through her work as a nurse practitioner.

The show slightly runs out of steam towards the end but you’ll learn a lot in the hour, Berr’s Edinburgh debut. You’ll also laugh a lot too.

• Until 24 August
• More comedy reviews on theartsdesk