I Love You, Mum - I Promise I Won't Die

by Mark Wheeller

I'd had a conversation specifically with Dan about ecstasy. It's one of the things you do as a parent, isn't it? Wear your helmet when you're out on your bike, you know, don't take drugs. To be honest, I was more worried about him being safe on his bike than at a party with his friends.

The words of the title are the last ones spoken by sixteen-year-old Daniel Spargo-Mabbs to his mother. In January 2014, Daniel's parents thought he was going to a friend's house. He actually attended an illegal rave and later died after taking MDMA.

That fateful evening is told through the words of his school friends and family, divided into two hard-hitting acts in Mark Wheeller's verbatim play.

I Love You, Mum - I Promise I Won't Die was commissioned by the charity set up in Daniel's memory to raise awareness about the danger of party drugs. It is a fast-paced, tragic, vibrant piece of verbatim theatre, which should engage teenage readers, audiences and performers alike.

80 pages, Paperback

Published February 9, 2017

Reviews

[Ella Loban · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was emotional and is a play script on a real life story. This play script is for a verbatim play

[Allison Tester]

Except for using this as a teaching tool with young people, I’m not sure if a theatrical form is the best for sharing this story? But it’s a touching, loving tribute and I admire the way it wants to raise awareness.

This was my first foray into verbatim theatre and not about this piece specifically, but thinking about the genre made me wonder about the ethics of verbatim theatre on the whole.

[Ashley Betts · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely heartbreaking. Real words crafted in a way which lets us in and feel a bit of what they felt. I can't wait to explore this with our students.

[Davita · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Frey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read it and still doing it for my drama GCSE, I like it, it's good and I think it has gotten me into minimalistic verbatim plays :)

[Ella · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this play should be performed forever

[Libby · Rating 5 out of 5]

🥲