I Love You, Mum - I Promise I Won't Die (Plays for Young People)

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The hoodie symbolising Dan was such an amazing concept to show everyone had a part of Dan in them and they were also a part of him and… Dan could be anyone. The play is topped and tailed by filmed interviews with Dan’s mother and father and his girlfriend Jenna, communicating the love he inspired. The Story of Daniel Spargo-Mabbs, a bright and popular sixteen year old boy from south London who died in January 2014, from ecstasy.

The play allows Dan’s story to be told by the people who loved him and knew him the best, his family and friends. We are delighted to be touring the full-length version of this powerful and emotional story,” says Elliot Montgomery, Octopus Dream Theatre Artistic Director. Consequently, young people face decisions about drugs without the information and skills they need to live safe, healthy lives. Given the time-consuming practical elements of a GCSE syllabus, a text which can be taught efficiently and accessed by all students is a huge bonus and, at under 60 pages, I Love You, Mum is quick both to teach and revise. The set was simple with six cubes moved around at pace to create new scenes and also used in slow motion during the opening rave scene to great effect; flying around the stage with the chemical formula for MDMA projected upstage certainly marked the moment.I hadn't realised how much scope for creativity there was with a play taken completely from other people's words. Since then, it has been being studied, taught and performed in schools, colleges and community youth theatres across the UK and as far away as Australia, Tasmania and Vancouver. In moving and impactful scenes told with dialogue, physical acting, empathy, respect and humanity we learn that Dan enjoyed playing in the garden as a young boy, took part in everything at school and had already begun to support important causes. By Easter it will have reached around 55,000 young people, and is a core component of our drug education programme. This play, which runs at around 90 minutes with no interval, is a love letter to Daniel Spargo-Mabbs.

When sixteen-year-old Daniel Spargo-Mabbs dies on a night out at a rave after taking a lethal dose of MDA family, friends and teachers are left shocked and grief-stricken. When you meet former students, sometimes from decades back in my case, it’s usually taking part in Oliver!The solution was a hoodie – both a symbolic prop and item of costume – which enabled different members of the ensemble to take on the role of Dan.