Irish Actress Brings Dora’s Story to Life

This week I was contacted via the website by an Irish actress, who said she was performing in a play about the Irish Hospitals Sweepstake. The Sweepstake was Dora’s biggest client in the 1930s and rescued her struggling business during the depression after the Wall Street Crash of 1929. Anyway, the actress said she was playing the part of Dora and could she ask me some questions to help her prepare for the role! I couldn’t believe it!

I am thrilled that Dora is being brought to life on stage. The play is called The Good Luck Club, written and directed by Louise Lowe of the highly regarded ANU Productions, as the first in a series on “framing the nation,” looking at the early years of the Irish republic. I have spent so long researching Dora’s story, trying to get her the recognition she deserves, that I am a bit overwhelmed to suddenly have her featuring in a play as a key actor in Irish history.

I knew that the sweepstake was a huge money spinner for the Irish economy, but I hadn’t realised that, in the 1930s, 4,000 (out of a population of 90,000) Dubliners worked on processing sweepstake tickets.

However, the sweepstake was somewhat morally questionable, with the organisers, Joe McGrath and his friends, making their fortunes at a time when lotteries were illegal in the UK and USA (where most tickets were sold) and creating a substantial and embarrassing balance of trade deficit for Great Britain.

The Good Luck Club is being performed at the National Archives of Ireland in Dublin, as part of their celebration of the release of the 1926 census. It will be an immersive experience, with the play happening around the audience as they wander through the archives, rather than being on a stage. I understand that tickets sold out within minutes of going on sale, but the production company have very kindly offered me a ticket. I cannot wait to see/experience it! Watch this space for more details after my visit to Dublin at the end of May.