GETTING REKT (The Evening Star) at The Union Theatre

NEW ONE-MAN PLAY GETTING REKT BRINGS GRIME, CARE AND A SEARCH FOR MEANING TO THE UNION THEATRE

Jamie Nowski’s debut play comes to London for a limited four-night run from 21–24 September 2026, directed by award-winning Finella Waddilove, with original music design by Jack Bales.

LONDON, 4 August 2026 — Wicked Thistle Productions presents GETTING REKT (The Evening Star), a funny, tender and full-of-bite new one-man play written and performed by Jamie Nowski.

Rek has big dreams, big chat and absolutely no idea what he is doing.

He is 25, “pretty much from Croydon, bruv,” and fully committed to the image: grime producer,party boy, ladies’ man, future legend. In reality: he works in a care home, can’t get booked for an open mic and is beginning to suspect that his persona might be wearing thinner than his tracksuit.

Then there is Zofia: cheeky, sharp and living with dementia. And the only person who sees straight through Rek’s act.

When Zofia asks to see sunflowers in December, Rek does what any reasonable care workerwould do: he breaks her out.

What follows is a chaotic, hilarious and unexpectedly moving journey across London in search of flowers, stars, music, memory and something resembling meaning. Even as Zofia is losing her grip on the world around her, she may be the person who helps Rek find his place within it.

Blending grime, classical music, spoken word and razor-sharp storytelling, GETTING REKT (The Evening Star) explores the identities young men construct to survive, the vulnerability those identities conceal and the unexpected intimacy of caring for another person. It is a story about fronting, friendship, masculinity and the people who find us when we have completely lost ourselves.

The play draws on writer and performer Jamie Nowski’s Polish heritage, his experience working in care and support roles, and his memories of his late grandfather, who lived with dementia.

“Getting Rekt grew out of my own time working in care, my Polish heritage and memories of my grandad. To me, identity is at the heart of the show. Dementia is slowly stealing Zofia’s sense of who she is, while Rek has buried his own beneath a persona. They sit at different points on thesame sliding scale, allowing me to explore what it means to lose, perform and reclaim ownership of who we are.” - Jamie Nowski

Getting Rekt marks Nowski’s playwriting debut. A graduate of the Guildford School of Acting, his recent credits include the BFI Flare-nominated short film HERE and UK tours of Wuthering Heights, Great Expectations and A Christmas Carol. He previously appeared at the 2023 Edinburgh Festival Fringe as Percy Shelley in The Birth of Frankenstein, which played to sell-out audiences and received four-star reviews at The Pleasance Courtyard.

The production is directed by Finella Waddilove, whose recent production Doughnut Drive, which she wrote, directed and performed in, received Everything Theatre’s Best Comedy Fringe Show award. It also earned an LPT Standing Ovation nomination and four Fringe Theatre Awards nominations, including Best Director.

The show’s original music design is by London-based producer and composer Jack Bales (barla beats). Drawing on more than 16 years across grime, electronic music, UK hip-hop and experimental sound, Bales has performed at venues and festivals including E1, Brixton Jamm, Latitude Festival and Southbank Centre. His music has accumulated more than 10 million plays worldwide.

The production is produced by Teryn Gray and Wicked Thistle Productions, with voice and dialect coaching by Helena Fox.

“We want Wicked Thistle to create work that makes audiences feel alive to the contradictions they’re living with. Getting Rekt can be raucous and irreverent one moment and devastatingly tender the next, and its musical landscape gives all of those tensions a beating pulse. It’s an exciting show that brings audiences young and old into the same room, and side-by-side, they explore masculinity, memory, care and inter-generational friendship.” - Teryn Gray

The production runs at the Union Theatre from Monday 21 to Thursday 24 September 2026, with performances nightly at 7.30pm.

Performance information

Production: Getting Rekt (The Evening Star)

Venue: Union Theatre, Old Union Arches, 229 Union Street, London SE1 0LR

Dates: Monday 21–Thursday 24 September 2026

Time: 7.30pm

Tickets: £20 full price; £15 concessions; free for Nimbus Card holders

Booking: uniontheatre.biz/show/getting-rekt

Age guidance: 15+

Content guidance: Contains strong language, themes of dementia and brief non-sexual nudity.

Creative team

Written and performed by: Jamie Nowski

Directed by: Finella Waddilove

Original music design: Jack Bales

Produced by: Teryn Gray and Wicked Thistle Productions

Voice and dialect coach: Helena Fox

Photography: Zoë Birkbeck

Poster design: Christine Fitzgerald