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

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I hadn't realised how much scope for creativity there was with a play taken completely from other people's words. An important and often overlooked route into the industry, especially for many non-performing roles. The sheer release and teenage wildness that comes with letting go and not being under the surveillance of parents or teachers is communicated through primal movement to music: untrammelled, feral, alive. Towards the end of the play he performs the final moments between Dan and his girlfriend Jenna (Amy Zoldan) as she relives their final conversation.

It is deeply moving, truly heartbreaking, and challenging as it touches on what we can do to help stop this happening to others. For ‘I Love You, Mum – I Promise I Won’t Die’, Mark used verbatim theatre to take the actual words of Dan’s family and friends, recorded in a series of interviews, which were painstakingly transcribed and then turned into the script of this two-act play. While I Love You, Mum is ostensibly seen as a Theatrein-Education (TIE) play, Mark Wheeller describes it as first and foremost ‘verbatim’. There is one part, never fully explained, but beautifully performed which involves the taking off and putting on of hoodies, cardigans and jackets. In Jan 2020 Wizard Theatre produced the 4th professional tour of ILYM, after COVID the 5th and 6th tour took place in 2022 and 2023 respectively.The Story of Daniel Spargo-Mabbs, a bright and popular sixteen year old boy from south London who died in January 2014, from ecstasy.

Dan’s parents share his childhood milestones and joys, growing up in a loving family, and how he made one mistake. A cast of four versatile actors play the parents, friends and family in Dan’s life – Amy Balmforth, Danny Mellor, Ashley Pekri, Cobie Scott-Ward. It includes a detailed scheme of work created by Annette Hulme, Head of Academic Drama at Leicester Grammar School. Students will learn that there's always a choice and that the risks associated with drug use are incredibly high.Friends talk about Dan, telling us what he was like when they first met him and later when they knew him for a while. The title takes Dan’s joking last words to his mum, Fiona, before he left home for what turned out to be the last time: ‘I Love You, Mum – I Promise I Won’t Die’.

About the Author: Mark Wheeller began writing whilst a student at Marlwood Comprehensive School, Bristol. Alex Colley incorporates video into the show beautifully and Christopher Bevan’s music and sound adds energy and intensity to the show where it’s needed.

Wheeller manages to find moments of much needed energy, excitement and, at times, light humour – this juxtaposition makes every word of the play even more impactful. They wear a simple costume item for each person, such as a cardigan or spectacles, swiftly changing from scene to scene. It's powerful, not only because it's truthful, but because of the hard-hitting words used by real people that convey their devastation and loss.