I promise

Daniel Spargo-Mabbs was a bright, popular and talented teenager with a promising future ahead of him. However, in 2014, without ‘warning’ and aged just 16, Dan died as a result of taking ecstasy. This was such an uncharacteristic act that Dan’s parents, Fiona and Tim Spargo-Mabbs, felt that if it could happen to their son, it could happen to anyone. They wanted to do everything they could to prevent the same thing happening to other young people, or harm from any type of drug. Shortly after Dan’s death, Fiona and Tim set up the DSM Foundation with an aim to deliver drug education programmes to young people, parents/ carers and teachers in order to improve young people’s understanding of the risks of drugs and to enable them to make safe choices. They also wanted to make something positive come out of something so tragic. As such, they commissioned award-winning playwright Mark Wheeller to write a play telling the story of Dan’s life and death.

‘The play was the idea of Dan’s drama teacher Izzy Forrester,’ Fiona recalls. ‘Dan loved drama and was good at it. Izzy suggested early on that drama could be a really effective way of communicating these important messages about the risks of drugs to young people. She loves Mark’s work, as indeed did Dan, and Izzy knew Mark was a playwright who wrote powerfully for young people about issues that affect them.’

On what would have been Dan’s 17th birthday, just four months after his death, Izzy made contact with Mark, and immediately he agreed to be involved in putting together some form of TIE project/play using Dan’s story.

A verbatim message

For the play Mark decided to go with his familiar style. Fiona explains: ‘My husband Tim and I had never heard of verbatim theatre. Mark said this would be how he’d like to approach this play, and when he explained the form, it seemed infinitely preferable to someone trying to recreate our words and those of the others involved in this story, which is not only incredibly precious to us, but also feels very vulnerable and fragile, and it was – and is – so very important to get it as right as possible.’

Mark spent time in Croydon in the summer of 2014 and taped hours of interviews, which he then transcribed. ‘I got so much material that I said, “I just don’t think I can do this justice in one play”,’ he says. ‘So it then became two plays entitled I Love You, Mum and I Promise I Won’t Die, the last words spoken by Dan to his mother before he went off, unbeknown to her, to the illegal rave where he would take the MDMA that would end his life.’

In the construction of the play, Fiona says, ‘Mark was very open throughout the whole process and kept sending bits of script for the family to see as he went along, and also invited us down to Southampton to see scenes as the play developed with his company, Oasis Youth Theatre (OYT). This was all so good, but also incredibly hard for us, because it meant re-inhabiting the worst possible moments of our lives.’

The first play, I Love You, Mum, focuses on Dan’s friends and school, the night at the rave and the impact on everyone who knew him. The second play, I Promise I Won’t Die, is from the words of Dan’s family, and his long-term girlfriend Jenna and her family. This play moves back in time, encompassing the trial and sentencing of the drug dealer, the funeral, the time in the hospital, and ends with his mother, Fiona, remembering her beloved son.

Mark describes it as ‘his best play’, adding that ‘there’s a fortuity and a fortuitousness about verbatim, because you have by chance such eloquent people speaking to you. And all of the play comes directly and only from the words of those who knew Dan.

‘When I watch films and it says “based on truth, but some scenes have been changed for dramatic purposes” I always think, well … why? It’s just really bizarre and unnecessary, so I genuinely don’t change what people have said to me – although I do edit.’

Positive feedback

In March 2016 the two parts had their first public performances, performed by Mark’s OYT in Southampton and London, with its premiere at the BRIT school, just a mile from Dan’s home in Croydon. Of watching the performance, Fiona says: ‘It was terrifying at times for me – it felt like handing my son over for public consumption, and because of the nature of the story, he and what happened could be open to being judged in a way which I wouldn’t be able to control. We built very strong relationships from the start with both Mark and with the amazing young people in OYT though, and all of them were so committed to getting Dan right and getting the story right and honouring him and us, and of course that helped hugely.’

After this initially successful first run, the play was edited. ‘We’d planned from the start that we’d try to fund a professional tour of the play followed by a TIE workshop, which was also something we wanted to offer, so that students had time and space to reflect on and learn more about the issues the play raises,’ says Fiona. ‘We commissioned Mark to adapt it for a StopWatch Theatre, a professional TIE company who have been touring the UK since 1990.’

The new 45-minute play for four performers, which features puppetry, physical theatre and amazing characterisation from StopWatch performers to deliver the verbatim text, has just finished a tour performing in over 60 venues all over south London. ‘The feedback has been incredibly positive,’ says Fiona. ‘As a charity we really hope to be able to raise funds to tour the play again with StopWatch at least one term a year in the future.’ She adds: ‘Every time a young person says it’s made them see the risks of drugs differently that means masses and makes it all worthwhile, but to be perfectly honest, the comments that have meant most and stuck with me have been when young people say they feel they know Dan having seen the play, and it’s like he’s one of their friends. This isn’t at all why we got involved in this – it was all to do with communicating these important messages so other young people make choices that keep themselves safe – but before anything I’m Dan’s mum and he’s  my funny, kind, clever, chatty, lovely, precious, amazing boy, and that people can still feel they’re making friends with him means more to me than I can say.’ For Mark the project comes at the end of his 29 and-a-half years at OYT. ‘I’m moving to open a new youth theatre in nearby Romsey. It’s really back to basics and starting again, and therefore very, very exciting. I’ve been fortunate enough to have done some amazing stuff together with OYT, including of course this piece, and I’ve been supremely grateful to everyone I’ve worked with and had around me. It’s been fantastic.’ He concludes: ‘It would be amazing if this production does tour further as hoped; it deserves it. For drama teachers and for health education people, it’s a gift.’ For more information about the play and PSHE programmes, please contact Fiona Spargo-Mabbs, by email fiona@dsmfoundation.org.uk or go to www.dsmfoundation.org.uk. The play is also available for purchase from Bloomsbury.