A story about fronting, friendship, masculinity and the people who find us when we have completely lost ourselves
Meet Rek. Real name Derek. But don’t call him that if you want to keep your limbs, mate.
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 worker would 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.
Nowski says,“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 the same sliding scale, allowing me to explore what it means to lose, perform and reclaim ownershipof who we are.”
Directed by award-winning Finella Waddilove, with original music design by Jack Bales. 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,” says Teryn Gray.
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.
