I Love You, Mum – I Promise I Won't Die by Mark Wheeller

The playwright

Mark Wheeller is familiar to most Drama teachers, whether through his most well-known play Too Much Punch For Judy, his drama schemes and lesson plans, or from his inclusion on set text lists with Missing Dan Nolan (OCR), Hard To Swallow and, most recently, I Love You, Mum – I Promise I Won't Die (both Eduqas). He began his writing career as ‘one of us’: a Drama teacher, working collaboratively with his school and youth theatre groups to produce plays based on true stories.

Context

I Love You, Mum – I Promise I Won't Die is the true story of Daniel Spargo-Mabbs, just 16 years old when he died of an MDMA overdose – the title being his final words to his mum. The play was commissioned in 2014, just four months after his death, by the Daniel Spargo-Mabbs Foundation, the drug education charity set up by his parents. It is far from a preachy ‘Don't Take Drugs’, PSHE-style lecture though, and as a dramatic work it serves as much more.

Verbatim theatre

While I Love You, Mum is ostensibly seen as a Theatrein-Education (TIE) play, Mark Wheeller describes it as first and foremost ‘verbatim’. Beginning with questions such as ‘why turn Dan's story into a play?’ and ‘why use verbatim?’ encourages students to consider the playwright's intentions, the genre and structure of the play, and the dramatic tools available as they build their own ideas in preparation for the written exam.

Wheeller has written many verbatim/documentary theatre plays. In this, he appears as a character, interviewing Dan's friends and family in the first act (the second act is more intimate and family-centred, telling the story in reverse). There are interesting parallels to be drawn with the verbatim play/film, The Laramie Project, and examining the director's methods in engaging the audience through music and visual imagery. The dialogue of I Love You, Mum has a rawness and immediacy, but finding the ‘theatre’ in verbatim theatre is vital – and a central tenet of Mark's work – so there is plenty of opportunity and merit in exploring this text practically.

Staging the play

The character of Dan had to be removed from the play shortly before the first performance, which became the catalyst for what Mark describes as ‘the iconic idea from the production’. 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. This makes for an interesting starting point when discussing both how to utilise the ensemble cast and approaches to design. The latter can feel overwhelming for non-design candidates, but asking students to distil how they see the play through a front cover or production poster is a simple but effective visual extension of asking what the play is about. Sharing and discussing these choices encourages students to consider how meaning is conveyed with set, lighting, costume, prop and projection design emerging more organically from this.

Why should you teach it?

As well as the topical subject matter, the reality of Dan's story, and its great energy and emotion, this play is very accessible. Delving into the intricacies of language or historical content in a text has its merits, but Drama teachers are notoriously short of time. 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.

What's more, Wheeller has an active presence on social media, an incredibly well-resourced YouTube channel and, if he can, he'll come into your school (in person or virtually) to work with your students.

Links and resources:

• I Love You, Mum – I Promise I Won't Die – Mark Wheeller, Methuen, 2017

• The Story Behind… I Love You, Mum – I Promise I Won't Die – Mark Wheeller, Salamander Street, 2022

• Verbatim: The Fun of Making Theatre Seriously by Mark Wheeller, Salamander Street, 2021 I Love You, Mum – I Promise I Won't Die – DVD of original production by Oasis Youth Theatre

• I Love You, Mum – I Promise I Won't Die – streamed production by TiE It Up! Theatre

• Mark Wheeller YouTube channel - youtube.com/c/MarkWheeller

• National Theatre YouTube channel - youtube.com/c/NationalTheatre

• Daniel Spargo-Mabbs Foundation – dsmfoundation.org.uk

• The Laramie Project (film) – Moises Kaufman, 2002