Suicide-prevention play tours schools

A play highlighting how young people can spot signs of suicidal feelings in their friends was being toured around 15 schools and colleges.

The Drummer Boy was commissioned by the INK festival, based in Halesworth, Suffolk.

It follows the story of a teenage boy who appears to have it all, with the story scrolling backwards and forwards through time to reveal how his world falls apart after being dropped from a football academy. It ends on a positive note and then students have a discussion with the actors about themes in the play.

Writer Rob John, who worked with mental health professionals to develop the story, said: "I had to do a huge amount of research. For many years, I was a teacher, and I kind of feel I have some kind of understanding of how young people respond to material like that, so I think that helped a bit."

In the opening monologue, the main character, Jake, explained that he heard a drum beat in his head and imagined a drummer boy walking slowly towards him.

The character then appears to be talking in a counselling session, fast forwarding and rewinding to different years at school when things were going well, when he was in crisis, and eventually coming through the other end.

The characters do not ever say the word suicide, but low feelings and self-harm were alluded to.

Although highly emotional at times, the piece ends with a positive tone, with Jake's final line directed at the audience asking, 'are you alright?'

Actor Callum Concepcion, who plays the main character Jake, told BBC Radio Suffolk: "My brother's in secondary school now and with things like social media it's completely different to when I was in school, which was eight years ago.

"Getting to talk to my brother about what he's going through, and why he's finding school difficult, and some of the things that he says... I look at him and I'm like 'God you've got so much to carry, so much on your shoulders that I've never experienced'."

Hattie Chapman, who plays Jake's mother and also Casey, his girlfriend, said: "When I went to school, we didn't have anything like this, there was no theatre coming in to talk about these topics, we didn't have mental health professionals talking to us.

"Unfortunately, I know many people that have suffered with these issues, and I think lots of us do, and I think what a difference it would have made to have this play be on in my school when I was 16."

The school performances will be followed by a discussion with the cast and students.

Teachers and support staff were also given resources to follow up on the issues raised in the play.

Kevin Vaughan is the operational manager for early intervention child and adolescent mental health services at Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust.

He has been involved in the play's development for the last two years.

He said: "Our consultant clinical psychologist has been heavily involved in supporting the shaping and development of the play so those messages are right and relevant to young people.

"We very much want to move towards working more around prevention and in communities.

"Demand for support through child and adolescent mental health services has significantly increased post-pandemic, so this is a real opportunity to get in at the early stage to raise awareness and to ensure young people get support before it develops into something more."

The project has been funded by the Suffolk Safeguarding Partnership and the Suffolk Public Health and Communities Team.

If you've been affected by the issues in this story, help and support is available via the BBC Action Line.

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