Review: I Shall Be Remembered

I Shall Be Remembered
Parade Theatre, NIDA
Until 3 May
& 6-10 May at Glen Street Theatre
Tickets $20-55
Bookings 1300 795 012
Critic’s Rating 5/10


It was a fortune teller who first predicted the rise and rise of Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson, more familiarly known as Madame de Pompadour.

With an insatiable drive to 'be remembered' she conveniently got rid of her tax collector husband and rose from her more humble bourgeois origins to become part of the royal court at Versailles and eventually mistress to King Louis XV.

This monologue written by Elizabeth Woodman for performer Elaine Montgomerie follows the mistress from her early childhood - when her mother dreamt of her daughter rising to the aristocracy - to her later years when she yielded power within the court as confidant to the king.

Adorned with beautifully intricate costumes, Montgomerie performs the tale framed by enormous reproductions of the portraits the mistress commissioned while living at Versailles.

Unfortunately, neither the satin gowns nor the historical interest of the plot can carry this museum like piece of theatre. From the rather earnest voice-over commentary to the trumpeting musical interludes it’s all just a little too curious.

Montgomerie who worked extensively with the JC Williamson Shakespeare Company in the 1950s and 60s is accomplished but not enough to give it the life it needs for its two hour duration.