Introduction

Step inside the gilded machinery of the infamous Irish Hospitals Sweepstakes, a global gambling phenomenon that helped bankroll a fragile young state. Here, desperate hope collides with the sharp calculations of post-war Ireland, as four thousand women open envelopes heavy with longing, loss and last chances.

Audiences are invited to roam the private spaces of the National Archives of Ireland, moving between hope and heartbreak in a living excavation of 1920s and 1930s Ireland. In the shadows of official records and whispered ambitions, a nation reveals how it was built… on a ticket and a prayer. The Good Luck Club by ANU Productions in partnership with the National Archives as part of its Census 1926 programme. Supported by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media.