Top comedians bring house down at Trim Swift Festival

Ireland's top comedians and satirists descended on Trim last weekend for the fifth annual Swift Satire Festival with comedian Dara Ó Briain attracting a capacity crowd when he took to the stage of the marquee on Saturday afternoon. Ó Briain headlined the Satire Day comedy event and opened the show at 1pm to entertain the 400-strong crowd who filled the festival marquee in the castle grounds. He was the first of 20 comedians in a marathon event that lasted until that evening. Part of Castle Street was closed and there were artisan food stalls, bouncy castles, face-painting and family activities in the castle grounds. Shane Dempsey of the Swift Festival committee said that, at its height on Saturday afternoon, they estimated a crowd of 2,500 between the marquee and the castle grounds was present. He said there had been very positive feedback from local businesses who reported their busiest weekend in a long time. As well as local people attending, many visitors came from Dublin and the 20 comedy acts taking part also brought their own followers. Later on Saturday evening, the marquee was the venue for the Satire Day Night Live event with Barry Murphy as MC, David McSavage, The Nualas, John Colleary, Joe Rooney and Ding Dong Denny O'Reilly. On Friday night, George Hook hosted the Swift Round Table Dinner in Knightsbrook Hotel, which attracted a crowd of 130. Among the contributors were Dr Elaine Byrne, Andrew Carpenter, Johnny Fallon and Irish Times journalist John Waters. One of the highlights of the event was Barry Murphy as a representative of the troika doing an hilarious impression of a condescending fictitious German, Gunther. Other events throughout the weekend included the relay reading of 'A Tale Of A Tub', the famous satirical work by Jonathan Swift, on Market Street. The 62 readers each read two pages while sitting on a beer barrel while their feet were in a tin bath (a tub). The festival's annual Battle of the Books, a satirical writing competition between the two writers' groups based in Trim, was won by the Meath Writers' Circle, who defeated the Boyne Writers' Group. The winning team comprised Tommy Murray, Trim, (captain), Michael 'The Sheriff' Sheils, Navan, and Frank Murphy, Kilmessan. The winner of the Five Fives drama competition for five-minute plays, was Gareth Mahony, Trim, whose play,' Gulliver At The Gate', set in an airport, reduced the recent economic history of Ireland to a party political broadcast on behalf of Michael O'Leary. The festival this year included an exhibition for the first time. Entitled Swift in 30 Objects, it took place in St Patrick's Church of Ireland Cathedral and included a rare appearance in public of Trim's historic town maces. Also on display were a Holy Communion chalice and paten used by Swift while he was vicar at Laracor. Another first this year was the mini-film festival held in the 100-seater Cinemobile. In keeping with the overall theme of the Swift Satire Festival, it included satirical films like Sasha Baron Cohen's 'The Dictator' and Charlie Chaplin's similarly titled 'The Great Dictator' made 72 years earlier. But children were catered for, too, in the form of an animated version of 'Gulliver's Travels' while teenagers and young adults were treated to the summer blockbuster 'Snow White' and 'The Huntsman'. However, it was Saturday night's showing of the cult classic 'Fatal Deviation', filmed in Trim, that attracted the largest audience. This year was the fifth year of the festival, which is supported by Meath Partnership, and was the biggest to date. Plans are already underway for next year's event with organisers hoping to line up Stephen Fry to headline the festival.