Mum and son play raises awareness of knife crime

Motherhood is a one-person show, written and performed by Claire Nelson

A mother and son have created a play to raise awareness of the impact of knife crime.

Motherhood is a one-person show written and performed by Claire Nelson from Oxfordshire and produced by her son Samuel Mansell.

Ms Nelson described it as "a personal story" after someone in her family had been affected by knife crime.

The pair are also working with Oxford City Council to crowdfund for more publicly accessible bleed kits in the city.

Samuel Mansell has interviewed young people and recorded their experiences with knife crime

Ms Nelson said some of the play is based on real-life events while some is "dramatic licence".

She said she hoped Motherhood will open up the conversation around knife crime and "get people in power thinking about solutions".

"I just thought it was a story that needed to be told because there is an increasing amount of knife crime around in the news today," she added.

A recording of local young people sharing their experiences will be played during the show.

Bleed kits

While writing the play, Ms Nelson discovered the Daniel Baird Foundation, a charity that aims to raise awareness of the importance of having publicly accessible bleeding control kits available.

"It's the idea that any member of the public can act and save a life quickly," Ms Nelson said.

She and her son have teamed up with the charity and Oxford City Council to crowdfund for kits to be installed in Oxford.

The opening performance will be at the Burton Taylor Studio at 18:30 BST on 11 September.