Lady Constance Malleson

Lady Constance Malleson
Portrait of Lady Constance Malleson Lady Constance Malleson in 1922
Born	Constance Mary Annesley (1895-10-24)October 24, 1895 Castlewellan Castle
Died	Bury St Edmunds
Nationality	English
Other names	Colette O'Niel
Occupation	writer and actress

The Lady Constance Malleson (24 October 1895 – 5 October 1975) was a British writer and actress (appearing as Colette O'Niel).

Biography

Malleson was born Constance Mary Annesley on October 24, 1895 at Castlewellan Castle in Northern Ireland. She was the youngest child of Hugh Annesley, 5th Earl Annesley and his second wife Priscilla Cecilia Armytage-Moore. Annesley's sister, Lady Clare Annesley, was a feminist and pacifist who stood as a Labour Party parliamentary candidate in the 1920s and 1930s. She also had two half siblings, Lady Mabel Annesley and Francis Annesley, 6th Earl Annesley, from her father's first marriage to Mabel Wilhelmina Frances Markham.

Annesley trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. While at the RADA she met Miles Malleson, whom she married on April 12, 1915 at the age of 19. The couple divorced in December 1922 after Miles failed to comply with a decree for restitution of conjugal rights obtained by Constance on May 15 of the same year. After graduating she studied in Paris and Dresden and spent the 1922 season with the Plymouth Repertory Theatre as lead actress. Malleson took up acting because she believed "that every woman ought to be able to earn a living." She was concerned with fair wages for all actors going on to speak publicly about the importance of securing the minimum wage of 3 pounds a week and payment for rehearsal for everyone, not just lead actors.

Malleson appeared in many West End productions, including The Orphans at the Lyceum Theatre, and at least one film, Hindle Wakes. She joined the Hull Repertory Theatre Company for the 1925 season appearing in several productions including Peter and Paul and Advertising April, alongside actor Colin Clive, and a C. K. Munro production of At Mrs. Beam's. Malleson believed that the short run plays that define repertory theatre were important for the development of young dramatists because they provided an opportunity to see how an audience reacts to one's work. In March 1928, Malleson produced a stage version of her three-act play The Way. The cast, which included Una O'Connor and Charles Carson, and was headed by Moyna Macgill in the role of Rosaleen Moore, a part written for her by Malleson. The play was performed twice and was reviewed by The Times as a "pretentious sham!"

During the First World War, her pacifist opinions brought her into contact with Bertrand Russell, whose mistress she soon became (having agreed with her husband on an "open marriage"). The pair met in 1916 at a trial for Clifford Allen, then, chairman of the No-Conscription Fellowship. Their affair eventually ended because Malleson did not want children. Her interest in social reform led her to travel abroad, and she carried out lecture tours in Scandinavia in the 1930s and 1940s.

Stage roles

Title	Year(s)	Role	Theatre	Notes	Ref(s)
L'Enfant Prodique	1916	Phrynette
The Trojan Women	1919	Helen	Royal Victoria Hall	October
Deburau	1921	Mme. Rébard	Ambassadors Theatre	November 3–26, 1921
The Rise of Silas Lapham	1922	Nan Corey	Lyric Theatre	February 20–24, 1922
The Orphans	1923	Henriette	Lyceum Theatre	February 28 - April 7
The Country Wife	1924	Squeamish	Regent Theater	February 17 - February 18
John Gabriel Borkman	1925	Mrs. Wilton	Hull Repertory Theatre Company	September
Peter and Paul	1925	Eva	Hull Repertory Theatre Company	September
Young Heaven	1925	[Lead actress]	Hull Repertory Theatre Company	October
Advertising April	1925	Rachel Shaw	Hull Repertory Theatre Company	November
At Mrs. Beam's	1925	Miss Cheezle
From Morn to Midnight	1926	Lady	Regent Theater	March 9 - March 20
The Cradle Song	1927	The Vicaress	Hull Repertory Theatre Company	October
Belinda	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown

Works

Non-Fiction

• As the Sight is Bent (1964) (edited by Constance Malleson, an unfinished autobiography of her half-sister Mabel Marguerite Annesley with 35 of her wood engravings)

Stage plays

• The Way (1928)

Selected literary and biographical criticism on her

• Foster, John Wilson (2008) in Irish Novels 1890–1940 (Oxford: Oxford University Press), pp. 478–81.