Don't You Forget About Me

1985\.

Suburban Illinois.

Saturday Morning.

Five teenagers walk into detention.

A Brain.

An Athlete.

A Basket Case.

A Princess.

A Criminal.

You know the story.

Except... there was someone else there.Touring the UK from November 2026 until March 2027, fresh from its World Premiere at the 2026 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, in association with Assembly VenuesWritten & Performed by David Shopland Directed by Roann Hassani McCloskeyIn a pub function room in the UK, the forgotten sixth student from that day is throwing a reunion.

The buffet’s out, the boombox is ready, and any minute now - the others will walk through the door.Part motion picture homage, part existential crisis; this one-man show is a funny, heartfelt trip through teenage memories, the power of nostalgia and the things we tell ourselves to feel like we mattered, seen through the lens of the John Hughes classic that defined a decade.Don’t You Forget About Me is a percussive and poignant love letter addressed to anyone who’s ever wished their life was a little more like a movie.Fake Escape Artistic Director David Shopland makes a rare return to the stage following his critically acclaimed one man exploration of Orson Welles, Raising Kane, which premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2023 before embarking on a sold out UK tour.Don’t You Forget About Me is directed by Popcorn Prize shortlisted Roann Hassani McCloskey.

It is produced by WhatsOnStage Award nominated internationally renowned theatre company Fake Escape (Saving Britney, Cul-de-Sac, Raising Kane).Double WhatsOnStage Award nominee Fake Escape was founded in 2013 and has since been committed to spearheading exciting new artistic projects that not only entertain and engage audiences, but open a dialogue with a new generation of theatregoers and theatremakers alike.

Fake Escape has produced over a dozen productions in the last 13 years, including productions at the Edinburgh Fringe, London, Paris and across the country.

They are best known for their 2021 WhatsOnStage Award nominated production of Saving Britney, which toured the UK extensively and transferred Off-Broadway to New York City in 2022, as well as Joakim Daun’s The Boy at The Soho Theatre in 2023.Previous Edinburgh Fringe shows include Stephanie Martin’s Did You Mean To Fall Like That at Pleasance Courtyard (2024), My Father The Tantric Masseur by Roann Hassani McCloskey at Assembly Venues George Square (2019), and Treasa Nealon’s A Dream of Dying at SpaceUK@Surgeon’s Hall (2016).

Fake Escape recently produced the 5 star WhatsOnStage Award nominated Cul de-Sac at the Omnibus Theatre, which was called “The best modern play I’ve seen” by London Pub Theatres Magazine.Multi Offie Award nominee David Shopland has been working professionally as a writer, performer, director and producer for nearly 15 years; having founded two successful theatre companies that have taken him across the breadth of the UK, as well as New York, Vancouver, Sarajevo, Paris, Belfast, Beijing and more.

Shopland is probably best known as the writer and director of the WhatsOnStage Award nominated international smash hit Saving Britney, co-devised with Shereen Roushbaiani, that reopened the Old Red Lion Theatre in 2021, after 425 days of closure post-pandemic, before embarking on a sellout UK tour and eventually transferring Off Broadway, where it played at the SoHo Playhouse, NYC.

Shopland originally trained as a performer at Rose Bruford College of Theatre and Performance, and appeared in productions such as Selladoor worldwide’s UK number 1 tour of Lord of The Flies in 2011 before deciding to focus on writing and directing.

Don’t You Forget About Me marks Shopland’s only second return to the stage in over 10 years.12+