#iloveyoumumplay to reach Scotland – on film

For a very long while now we’ve been working with Yorkshire-based Theatre in Education company Tie it Up Theatre on a brand-new production of #iloveyoumumplay for Scotland. This was due to tour Edinburgh schools in June, but then Covid hit. We postponed to November, but as time went on live touring still seemed unlikely to be reliably possible, so we decided between us our best chance of getting our play and Dan’s story to Scotland this year was to create a film of the production, and take that into schools as part of a ‘virtual’ Theatre In Education. The brief was National Theatre Live on a budget, and this is exactly what the brilliant team and cast of TiU have done. The result is a production that is agonizing, funny, heartwarming and heartbreaking. It portrays powerfully, creatively and sensitively the needless waste of a precious life. And the film captures this powerfully. And Tim and Fiona travelled up to Hull for the last day of filming, to do some filming themselves, so the young people seeing the play can hear from Dan’s mum and dad before and after they see the play that tells the story of his too-short life and too-early death. Our hope is this will be able to reach schools in Scotland this autumn – and if not then perhaps Spring – with a member of the TiU Theatre team there in person to present the film and deliver an interactive drugs education workshop afterwards. With so much uncertainty in schools continuing, and likely to do so for some time to come, this will be a really valuable resource, with great scope, and huge potential for changing and saving young lives, both now and beyond now. Live theatre will always be most powerful, but this will be the next best thing, and enable us to reach people and places we’d never otherwise be able to. For more information about the play email jo@dsmfoundation.org.uk For more information about TiU Theatre see www.tiu-theatre.co.uk/