Manchester’s Breeda Miller Presents “Mrs. Kelly’s Journey Home” to Benefit Manchester Community Resource Center

Long-time Manchester resident Breeda Miller, playwright and author, presented her one woman show “Mrs. Kelly’s Journey Home” as a benefit for the Manchester Community Resource Center, a local nonprofit organization, serving community members in need of support services.

Simple Set of Mrs. Kelly’s Journey Home – Photo By Steve Sheldon

Ms. Miller performs the nearly two-hour show alone, playing herself, her mother Mary Kelly, father Tom Kelly and other relatives you meet in a visit to Ireland. Mr. Kelly is an Irishman and proud of it. He provides comic relief in the show, though he is an intelligent and serious man. Miller shows her father as chain-smoking Pall Mall cigarettes, liking his alcohol and calling his wife’s indoor plants a threat. It is funny yet poignant. Her portrayal of her father gets laughs yet is respectful of the man she loved. Lead character Mary Kelly is a strong woman who loves her family, her children and grandchildren. She is Irish – Catholic and proud of it.

Breeda Miller Sipping Tea – Photo by Steven Sheldon

Mrs. Kelly’s Journey Home is a story that shows family life, with good and sad times. It is a love story. About family and their roots. About making a home in a strange, new land. It is funny. Yet, it breaks your heart. Watching this story, the audience gets to like this family. They see them as they began in Ireland. The fear is palpable as Mrs. Kelly travels to America with three young boys to join her husband. And as Miller says at the end of Act I, “Life was good. Until it wasn’t.”

Mary Kelly was diagnosed with vascular dementia. And that began Breeda Miller’s journey with “The Long Goodbye.” Act II details the life of a woman who had become a part of the sandwich generation. Working full-time, being a wife while caring for young teenage children and an elderly woman who was slowly slipping away. Care-giving becomes a full-time job. Exhaustion is the inevitable outcome. Caring for everyone else begins her slow descent into feeling as if she wouldn’t make it through another day.

Mrs. Kelly’s dementia grows worse, leading to outrageous outbursts and unreasonable requests. Hearing Miller tell the story about baking the apple pie was one of the highlights of the show. It was a laugh out loud moment. The audience could guess how this play would end. It becomes obvious throughout Act II. Yet Miller, playing herself, demonstrates what compassion and love can accomplish when applied willingly, without hesitation. It is an ending that brings tears to the eyes of the audience, yet you feel relieved knowing that his is one story that did indeed have a happy ending.

And, who among us wouldn’t cherish a boarding pass to heaven?

Breeda Miller Starting Act II – Photo by Steve Sheldon

For more information about Mrs. Kelly’s Journey Home, go to BreedaMiller.com.