Volunteers are being sought to take part in two of the biggest acts at this year's Bradford Festival.

Performers are needed to join the "painful creatures" in a moonlit presentation in Lister Park of The Unfairground by Mischief La Bas.

The show, which invites the audience to follow a ghoulish trail through woods passing checkpoints with Gorgons, galleons and robots is calling for people to take-up a number of roles in the performance on Friday at 9.39pm exactly.

Volunteers to bathe in warm soil, hammer bugs to wood and look after a woman pierced with needles are among the 12 roles up for grabs in the chilling performance, which has been rated PG.

Ian Smith, director of the show, said: "When the circus comes to town people want to run away and join it.

"With our performance we are giving everyone the opportunity to live the carnival life and play very real characters in the show."

The performance will take visitors on a 60-minute journey through Lister Park at twilight to discover a caged Hansel and Gretel eating cake, played by Mr Smith's own children, a pig-eating robot and a shipwrecked galleon.

Mr Smith said: "The volunteers will need courage and conviction to maintain their characters for 60 minutes.

"But they will be treated as part of the team and will hopefully get something out of it."

Dancers are also needed to take part in the colourful carnival performance of Runga Rung on Saturday.

A life-size steel elephant, a human Catherine wheel and a big flower tower are just some of the attractions included in the parade, which will form part of the Lord Mayor's Carnival Parade during the day followed by a separate parade through the city centre at night.

The multi-cultural show combining Asian traditions with Latin-style carnival fever will leave the Midland Hotel at 8pm and parade through the city to the Vicar Lane car park.

It will be one of the highlights of this year's Bradford Festival which starts in Centenary Square on Thursday with a magical garden featuring a wetlands sensory zone, storytelling tree and a huge inflatable maze. The Lord Mayor's Carnival Parade is expected to draw crowds this Saturday and performers will take to the streets next week as part of the Street Arts Festival from June 21 to 25. The Bradford Mela, in Peel Park on June 26 and 27, will celebrate arts and culture from the Indian sub-continent.

And Bradford Vision's village creation will give people a futuristic glimpse of Bradford in the year 2020.

Strong volunteers are needed to help pull carnival exhibits in the Runga Rung performance including a flower tower and mobile Bollywood cinema screen. Anybody who wants to take part should call organiser Neelam Mirza on (01274) 434406 or e-mail: Neelam.Mirza@bradford.gov.uk.