Three young men were shot in Central Manchester during the lifespan of this project, and the commissioner, Manchester City Council Children’s Services, gave the group one word, parent. This was how they responded. Looking beyond the sensationalism that accompanies the reporting of gun-crime, Wake Up shows how a young man, not part of a gang, gets caught up in a world of graft, to make money, with fatal consequences.
The group wanted show how a tragedy such as this affects other family members and the community at large, and succeeded in doing so in this powerful, beautifully acted drama.