GO KIDS:There should be a competition for the best character to include in your Irish holiday snaps. Any day of the week, at this time of the year, there's a mini queue of foreign tourists waiting to be photographed beside the Molly Malone statue at the bottom of Grafton Street in Dublin and more literary types cosy up to Patrick Kavanagh on his canal bank seat in Dublin.
But one of the instantly funny “statue snaps” is to stand beside the life-size sculpture of Charlie Chaplin in Waterville, Co Kerry. Visitors might initially be puzzled the find the statue of the comedy legend there but it’s to mark the funny man’s relationship with the seaside village. For 10 years, he and his large family spent Easter holidays here and this weekend the village is hosting the inaugural Charlie Chaplin Comedy Festival, mostly in Fossett’s Big Top, which pretty much sets the tone of fun.
The core business of the festival is film screenings - Chaplin’s
The Circus
is on tonight in the big top - and competitions: there are several short, low or no budget films in the under-18 category - one to watch for budding film-makers.
But there’s also vintage silliness around Waterville all weekend - including a croquet competition at Waterville Lake Hotel. Players must wear 1920s’ sporting gear and expect to see more than one person in a baggy suit, bowler hat and a stick-on toothbrush moustache.
If you can’t get to Waterville you can still take part by entering the Funniest Fish Photo contest. Chaplin loved fishing in the area and his grandson Arthur has organised this competition. See chaplinfilmfestival.com.
And, as there is bound to be at least one rainy day between now and going back to school, think about renting a Chaplin movie - even kids brought up on a diet of Pixar and Disney will find them hilarious. After all, slapstick humour is timeless.