Like explorers, we scrutinise the space (designer, Rachel Scane): the framed print of movie actors at the height of their fame, purveyors of various dreams – James Dean, Audrey Hepburn, Bacall, Monroe, books about theatre, novels, a painting, untidy racks of feminine clothing, intimate items shed alongside the bed, an inviting bed with soft silvery linen, then darkness. The players enter, one slips into bed, the other stands still and so we find them in the morning, Veronica/Ronnie (Sylvia Keays) asleep and Neil (Daniel Hunter), sublimely confident in his navy-blue Bond’s underwear, intrusively examining Ronnie’s possessions.
Once awakened Ronnie is focussed on attending “the thing”, a reading aka as an (possibly life-changing) audition for Lady MacBeth. Neil, however, almost inexplicably, after an apparently satisfactory night spent with Ronnie, begins a wonderfully comical but increasingly ferocious attack on the state of modern stagecraft and acting as a profession. He “blasts off”, verbally battering a distressed Ronnie. Is it possible to both recognise that Neil is dangerous and to care that he has cut himself adrift?
How much can we sympathise with Claudia (Alyssan Russell)? Although the personal toll of a traumatic nightshift in Casualty is made apparent, Claudia’s entry into Ronnie’s bedroom and her subsequent vehemence is only partially justified by raised voices. Moreover, her intervention exacerbates the situation and forces her socially awkward boyfriend, Justin (Stephen Wilkinson), into an uncharacteristic act of violence with unexpected consequences. It is apparent Claudia needs to blame someone for something, despite her reiterated claim that what she needs is sleep.
Why can’t she let go of her traumatic evening?
Dramatists are not obliged to resolve their characters’ problems. They provide the launching pad for the exploration of inner space, other worlds, and actors give the theatre experience its vitality and imaginative veracity. The actors in Rocket Man are utterly convincing, sometimes extremely funny and at others very moving, although there are favourite moments. Ronnie’s bemused but resilient reactions to Neil’s outbursts, for instance, “You’ve really nailed bitterness”, Neil’s sad self-prediction, “a night sky forever and forever”, and Justin’s humble sincerity as he wishes to be “the one who is in the wrong” are strong contenders.
If unable to subdue an urge to identify the play’s title with an Elton John song, lyrics by Bernie Taupin released in1972, and inspired, it is said, by a Ray Bradbury story of the same name (1951), don’t resist it. The theme of conflicting and conflicted worlds is absolutely relevant.
