Audiences were faced with protest banners and presented with animal rights leaflets as they entered and left Jolly's Circus at Stainburn Avenue, Glass Houghton last week.
Protest organiser Christine Collinson said: "It has gone very well. We spoke to a lot of people who said they didn't even know animals were involved. Lots of people got behind our protest and have been stopping me in the street to say they supported us."
She said circus members and protestors clashed on the first night but afterwards had peaceful discussions on the rights and wrongs of keeping a Canadian bear captive.
Mrs Collinson added: "I actually feel sorry for them because I honestly don't think they know any better. I told them it would make good business sense for them to give up the bear and concentrated on human acts because performing animals just aren't the attraction they were in the past."
Jolly's Circus spokesman Chris Barltrop said: "I am glad these protests were peaceful and that a conversation took place, but I still say that the small number of protestors compared to the great number of people who came to see the show clearly demonstrates how the majority of the public feel about this."
Mrs Collinson (pictured centre with some of the other protesters) said the group planned to carry on working to try and change the law so that animal circuses were no longer legal in the UK. P0814a538