Thousands of people enjoyed a host of unusual and inventive performances in the heart of Shrewsbury as the annual international street theatre festival took over the town centre.

Organisers today hailed the festival’s success and said the early indications were that the attendance was up on last year. The annual event ran between Friday and yesterday and saw performers from across the world visit the town.

Performers included Bruce Airhead, an Australian whose act involved him squeezing inside a 6ft balloon and re-emerging in a range of zany costumes, posinsg as the likes of Elvis Presley or James Bond.

Also catching the eye was Simon Airey, who taught audiences about a range of animals and creepy crawlies.

Neville Street, a spokesman for the festival, said it had been highly successful.

“It was brilliant. Really, really good. We think, judging by how many were there on Friday, we are probably up on last year,” he said.

“It is so difficult to say precisely how many, but we think the number of people was between 28,000 to 30,000.”

He said there had been plenty of notable highlights.

“Dado went down very well. He did a lot of interaction with young kids using balloons and it was his first time at the festival. Bruce Airhead went down well as well,” he added.

“The performers were happy and we were lucky with the weather, even though it started raining yesterday at 7pm just after we had finished.

“It was a lovely atmosphere and a good vibe. The support from businesses and sponsors has been marvellous and without them we wouldn’t have had a festival.”

While many of the walk-about acts were cancelled this year after festival organisers missed out on Arts Council funding for the 2011 event, one zany duo caused plenty of mischief on the streets.

The Wardens were on hand to give out ‘fines’ for offences such as eating too noisily in their role as a pair of annoying traffic wardens.

Performance areas were in place in The Square, by The Wheatsheaf pub, in Pride Hill and at the Market Hall.

By Chris Burn