Last week saw Merrion Square being overtaken by a host of street performers and I found myself completely drawn in by the atmosphere of fun and laughter that permeated through the park. Every corner you turned brought a host of new surprises and the variety of acts vying to entertain the masses who filled the grounds meant there was definitely something to amuse even the fussiest of observers!

A heady mix of jugglers, magicians, acrobats, hula-hoopers and a few comedians charmed the crowds who voted for their favourites over the weekend but for me there were 2 clear highlights whose acts still have me chuckling as I flick through my photos

Jack Wise is a highly skilled magician who never fails to get an audience laughing with his cheeky performances. Jack’s confidence draws an audience in and he soon had a huge crowd gathered around to watch him in action. Using a few of the younger audience members as assistants Jack wowed the people gathered around the Buskers Stage with an array of magic tricks including some impressive sword swallowing. But it’s the humour his show is laced with that enables him to get everyone laughing and having fun regardless of age. A firm favourite with audiences in the UK and Ireland, former Street Performance World Championship winner, Jack can be found performing at comedy clubs as well as festivals so keep an eye for him on billing near you and you will be guaranteed an evening of fun

Also highly skilled and incredibly entertaining was American performer ‘Mario, Queen of the Circus’. This one man circus held the large crowd who gathered to see his show completely enthralled using his clever mixture of classic Queen tracks and impressive variety of tricks including juggling, uni-cycling, magic and hula hooping! The charismatic latin lothario has a great sense of comic timing and his cleverly planned act was full of laugh out loud moments so it came as no surprise to me that he made the top 3 in the voting! Mario is currently touring the world with his unique show and if you head down to Waterford for the Spraoi festival (Aug.3rd – 5th ) you can see him for yourself

Needless to say I’ll definitely be heading back in to the World Street Performance Championships next year, with so much fun to be had for free why would you not pop in and be entertained?

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