REVIEW: I LOVE YOU MUM – I PROMISE I WON’T DIE at Brockley Jack Studio 13 – 17 June 2023

‘a cold hard dunk into the shocking waters of teenage drug culture’ ★★★★

"I love you, mum. I promise I won't die" were the last words that Daniel Spargo-Mabbs said to his mother in 2014 before heading to a rave on an industrial estate in West London in 2014. Here, he was sold a lethal dose of MDMA (the powdered form of ecstasy) after which he suffered multiple organ failure. He was sixteen.

This is a play not for entertainment or escapism. It's a cold, hard dunk into the shocking waters of teenage drug culture. At times, it's so intimate and raw, that as an audience member you almost feel like an intruder or voyeur on what would typically be a very private grief. But this play has purpose and intention. Since 2016, I Love You, Mum - I Promise I Won't Die has been performed over 500 times. Through the charity that's been set up in Daniel's name, the text has been studied in theatres, schools and theatre groups, both in the UK and internationally and watched (in a variety of contexts) by approximately 16,000 students. Last year, the play became one of seven set texts on the GCSE Drama syllabus. The mission of this play is to spread awareness, educate young people and their families and potentially avoid more unnecessary deaths.

This entirely explains the feel of the production which has a public information imperative. At no point can you forget that this is a true story about a real person whose life was cut tragically short. The play starts with video footage from his parents; the on screen texts we read are real, the photographs we see are of a once living boy, who brimmed with potential, his whole life ahead of him. The verbatim play by Octopus Theatre (ninety-minutes, no interval) has two acts and is constructed through the testimonies of those who knew Daniel, his friends and family, as well as recreating the fateful night, trial, funeral and the aftermath of grief. Although it's verbatim, it is mediated through the inclusion of the writer's character (played by David Chafer) who with tape recorder in hand, sets about conducting the interviews for the play.

Alongside the verbatim testimonies of school pals, girlfriends, teachers and family are the more experimental segments that pull audiences into specific moments. 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. There is one part, never fully explained, but beautifully performed which involves the taking off and putting on of hoodies, cardigans and jackets. Perhaps this scene was built around the parting shot, the last time a loved one leaves the family home, a casual everyday gesture of slipping into a hoodie, forever after a sacred memory and the moments perhaps, when life stands still for those left behind.

I Love You, Mum ensure Daniel lives on (he would have been twenty-five now) and reminds the audience that behind every statistic and flat Daily Mail headline is a human soul and story. It's a play that hits hard and captures the preciousness of life and loved ones.

The opening image is of serene Dan, in a white T-shirt and jeans, holding glow sticks, heaven bound, the angel at a rave. His friend, Jack while dealing with the trauma feels gratitude that they were together in Dan's last conscious moments and yes, in those last conscious moments, He was happy. He was living. He was alive. 

photographer credit: Tom Jackson

I LOVE YOU MUM – I PROMISE I WON’T DIE at Brockley Jack Studio 13 – 17 June 2023

Box Office: https://brockleyjack.co.uk/whats-on/

written by Mark Wheeller

directed by Elliot Montgomery

designer by Matt Sykes-Hooban

Produced by Octopus Dream Theatre Company in Association with York Theatre Royal

Cast: Cobie Scott-Ward, Alex Colley, Amy Zoldan, Sean Radford, David Chafer

Reviewed by Nilgin Yusuf