A promise that couldn't be kept — this true story will wreck you in 62 minutes flat.
In May 2014, just months after Dan died, the DSM Foundation commissioned award-winning playwright Mark Wheeller to write a verbatim play that told his story, so other young people could learn the lessons he sadly no longer could, and make choices that would keep them safe. The title takes Dan’s joking last words to his mum, Fiona, before he left home for what turned out to be the last time: ‘I Love You, Mum – I Promise I Won’t Die’. Mark worked on the very first production with his talented youth theatre company in Southampton, Oasis Youth Theatre, and the play had its first public performances in March 2016, with previews in Southampton and its premiere at the BRIT school, just a mile from Dan’s home in Croydon, South London.
Writing
Verbatim dialogue from real family — no writer could make this up.
Acting
Youth cast channels raw authenticity; the mum will destroy you.
Direction
Elliot Montgomery keeps it simple — the truth needs no embellishment.
Director
Elliot Montgomery
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Mark Wheeller invented 'verbatim theatre for young people' — this is basically his masterpiece, performed at the BRIT School where Amy Winehouse studied, one mile from Dan's house.
The DSM Foundation was created by Dan's parents after his 2014 death; this film documents a play that's now toured UK schools, making Dan's broken promise a national conversation starter.
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