The Irish Countess: Echoes of a Soul

In this one-woman play Constance sits alone in what was her much loved sister Eva's bedroom in Hampstead, London in September 1926. Too upset to attend Eva's recent funeral, she reflects on their shared past and the differing routes they chose; Eva to fight for social justice in England and Constance in Ireland. Constance Gore-Booth was a suffragette, socialist, artist and theatre maker who became an Irish revolutionary. Raised in an Anglo-Irish aristocratic family in Sligo, she studied painting in Paris, where she later married Count Casimir Markievicz, a Polish artist. Her involvement in the arts extended to the theatre, which connected her with many influential cultural and political figures involved in the cause of Irish freedom. Constance co-founded the Irish Citizen Army and played a crucial role in the 1916 Easter Rising in Dublin. She was the first woman elected to the UK Parliament in 1918, although she did not take her seat. She also served as Ireland's first female cabinet minister as Minister for Labour (1919-1922). Constance’s life was marked by her unwavering dedication to Irish independence and social justice.