EDINBURGH 2021: Review: I LOVE YOU MUM, I PROMISE I WON'T DIE, Fringe Player
EDINBURGH 2021: BWW REVIEW: I LOVE YOU MUM, I PROMISE I WON'T DIE, Fringe Player
I Love You Mum, I Promise I Won't Die is a true story about Daniel Spargo-Mabbs, a popular schoolboy who tragically died at 16 after taking ecstasy at an illegal rave in 2014.
Two months after he died, the DSM Foundation commissioned playwright Mark Wheeller to write a verbatim play about what happened to Dan. Published in 2017, the play has been studied, taught and performed worldwide with the play having a successful run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2018. This new high-quality digital production has been filmed by Yorkshire-based Tie It Up Theatre to translate the live performance to screen.
At the beginning of the film, Dan's parents Fiona and Tim Spargo-Mabbs fondly describe their son. They talk about how funny he was, how kind and how desperately missed he is. The film then switches to a stage where a cast of four perform the words of Dan's friends as they recount what happened.
The title comes from the last words Dan said to his mother. She worried a lot about him going out so before he left he would give her a hug and utter "I love you mum, I promise I won't die". Unfortunately, he couldn't keep his promise. It is distressing listening to the words of his friends as they describe first finding out what had happened to him. Dan was in a coma for two days before he passed away. As if this wasn't bad enough, the family were warned about shocking headlines and stories that would appear in newspaper rags in the coming days.
The purpose of this piece of work is clearly to honour Dan and ensure he is remembered for being a kind and loving popular boy rather than the headline "ecstasy teen death". It also serves as a very important warning to those experimenting with drugs how easily things can go wrong and I can see why it has had such success in schools.
I Love You Mum, I Promise I Won't Die is a beautiful and deeply touching tribute to a much-loved boy.
I Love You Mum, I Promise I Won't Die is available on demand through Fringe Player from 6 August.
Further information on the DSM Foundation can be found here.
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