REVIEW: GETTING REKT (The Evening Star) by Jamie Nowski at Union Theatre 21 – 24 September 2026
‘endearing solo show’ ★★★ ½
Getting Rekt is an endearing solo show with an intriguing premise, written and performed by Jamie Nowski. On the surface the protagonist Rek is a party animal, a talented rapper, who likes to think he’s on the up, with his ambitions, with the ladies and with his music, but the reality is that he works in a care home and his career in music is non-existent.
He does have one special lady though, the 85-year-old Zofia, living with dementia, with whom he has developed a special bond. When she says that she wants to see sunflowers in the midst of winter, Rek takes her out of the care home and into an adventure to find what she is looking for.
In the vein of Chanel 4’s short film HELP starring Jodie Cromer, it promises to throw some light on the care system and the work of carers which feels like an important topic. In HELP the stakes are very high, in the midst of lock down, Covid 19 and the scandal of neglect that many elderly people suffered, it was very specific to a certain time. However, the personal relationship between carer and her client showed the incredible commitment and powerful bonds that can develop.
In Getting Rekt we see how a young man has his own life, hopes and dreams separate to his job but in his quieter moments, “there is one lady who makes it kinda worth it” and that is Zofia from Poland. Zofia who sees through his façade, she knows that his real name is Derek and he’s from Croydon. They share a love of music, and begin to gain an appreciation of each other’s tastes, Polish classical composers and grime. Then there is also the Polish connection as Derek’s mother is Polish and for a moment there seemed to be a possibility that they might be related. Thankfully this strand is left unresolved, it is a stretch too far.
There are many excellent things to admire in this solo play. Nowski does an excellent job of playing all the roles, in particular drawing on physicality to portray Zofia and give her a personality, weighed down by a complicated past. Then there is also a gormless young woman newly recruited to the care system, a geeky art curator and an Irish Matron at the care home, amongst others. The accents sound impeccable (to me) thanks to voice coach Helena Fox.
The sound works especially seamlessly with the mime, co-ordinated with precision, and the original music by Jack Bales is lively and adds an upbeat vibe to the piece. The sound and movement for going back in time in the non-linear section of the play, works brilliantly well.
However, it’s not all working to its best advantage yet. The play feels too long partly because the through line is a little muddied. It turns out that the story is equally about Rek finding the confidence to follow his dreams of performing rap, which dilutes the more urgent themes of the play. The bracketed subtitle, (The Evening Star), relates to this and switches the premise to home in on ‘celebrity status’ on ‘personal ambition’ and this takes away from the deeper emotional core of the play.
The play doesn’t really know what is driving it and this results in the feeling that it’s all one pace, slow and steady, something like a series of vignettes, without enough impetus to keep an audience riveted. The main stake originally appeared to be the mission of seeing the sunflowers before dementia takes away Zofia’s memory, but became about Rek performing as a rapper. It currently lacks the kind of weight that might have the audience feeling the urgency of Rek’s mission and rooting for him to complete his task.
GETTING REKT (The Evening Star)
at Union Theatre
21 – 24 September 2026
Box Office https://uniontheatre.biz/show/getting-rekt/
Written by and starring Jamie Nowski
Creatives
Director
Finella Waddilove
Original Music Design
Jack Bales
Producers
Teryn Gray & Wicked Thistle Productions
Photographer
Zoë Birkbeck
Poster Designer
Christine Fitzgerald
Vocal Coach
Helena Fox
