Keeper

[NoHo Arts District, CA] – A NoHo Arts theatre review of Keeper, written and performed by Michelle Murphy, directed by Juliette Jeffers at Whitefire Theatre Solofest 2023.

Some solo shows hit you right in the heart, others right between the eyes. Some tickle, some make you think, or regret, or remember. Many make you cry, but very, very few do all of these at once. Keeper is one of those rare few.  Michelle Murphy brings to the stage her life, or rather, a particular part of it. The very important part that she wants to share with us, so we can truly see her. And then, maybe, if we look again, we can see ourselves.

Keeper opens with a glorious heartfelt chant, the song of Camp Dearborn, a summer camp and haloed ground for Michelle. A home from home. Where she discovers herself and feels deeply rooted. It also represents a place of innocence, a safe space with no judgment, no adversity, in many ways it may have saved her young life, given what she had to deal with at such a tender age.

The story revolves around Michelle as a young girl as she embarks, as we all did at some point or another, on her long and treacherous journey to womanhood. But when we are small we never assume that there will be darkness and fear and bullying.

Especially by those around us who you might imagine would want to be our friends or comrades.  Michelle was a girl packed full of life. Loud, funny, imaginative, kind, exploding with joy and adventure. All this was slowly, piece by piece, stolen from her by a group of girls, already broken perhaps in ways of their own and in need of an unsuspecting. She was an easy target. 

We all remember something like this, don’t we? In our childhood years, either directed at us or someone near. It never ceases to amaze me how common a thread this is in the formation of a human soul. And why oh why do we remember the bad so much more clearly than we do the good? I read somewhere that trauma and fear release dopamine which etches large the memory of the event into our brains…and how much bigger everything already seems when you are small. 

As brave and good and funny and as kind as young Michelle was, it wasn’t enough to save her from the darkness, the years of abuse, and the terrible shrinking of her body and soul. In the end, of course, it made her the person she is now. Strong and mighty and loved. 

She was saved by her mother, who Boadicea-like stormed into her school and held them all to account. Which was a particularly moving moment in the play, earning a huge cheer from the audience so caught up were we in the story. 

Michelle’s performance is utterly brilliant. She is absolutely mesmerizing on stage. Every inch an actor, every second of the show packed with emotion and energy. 

She embodied her child-self so completely and so charmingly I just wanted to embrace her and make her feel safe and loved. To tell her how wonderful she was and that everything would be alright in the end. 

Michelle Murphy’s Keeper is the kind of solo show that leaves you fully satisfied. The journey completed, the purpose understood. And that is all in the writing of course. It really stayed with me, like an epic poem or a mythological journey. Each turn punctuated by riveting storytelling and poignant moving moments.  

I hope Michelle performs this again, perhaps at Fringe? If she does I urge you to see Keeper. Because Michelle Murphy has proven, beyond a shadow of a doubt that she is, indeed, a keeper and always was.