Event: Germany - Bad Hersfeld

Bad Hersfeld Festival

When:	7 Jun - 3 Aug 2008 (annual)
Where:	Stiftsruine
Costs:	€12-€49.50; children's production €4-€14
Opening Hours:	Most shows 9pm; others 5.30pm

Northern Europe's largest Romanesque church ruins are the scene for the Bad Hersfeld open-air drama festival. Founded in 1950, the festival attracts leading lights of the German-speaking theatre to its vast, imposing spaces for two months of performances.

This year's programme includes productions of Goethe's Faust, Claude-Michel Schönberg's Les Misérables and Shakespeare's As You Like It. The event also has something for younger audiences, with acrobats, high-wire artists and children's theatre productions.

The festival takes place in the ruins of the collegiate church, built in 831-850 AD and destroyed by fire in 1761. A tent-like moveable roof designed by the architect of Munich's Olympic Stadium and manipulated by 22 motors can be spread in minutes to protect actors and audience from bad weather.