Millennium Mysteries Coventry Cathedral Ruins ****

Little angels and devils are running about. Adam and Eve are ruddy-cheeked pensioners swinging underneath a copper tree of knowledge. Cain kills Abel in a billow of smoke that curls like a red stain across the air. God, hair like Medusa, towers above everyone, his face set in a scowl of bad temper. The wooden Ark is constructed in four minutes, a minor miracle in itself, and then stocked with giraffes, mice and crocodiles, all so cleverly and simply constructed that they wouldn't be out of place in The Lion King.

In fact, there is a similar invention and verve throughout this marvellous and very contemporary version of Coventry's age-old mystery plays. The first half consists of stories from the Old Testament presented by local community groups with a moving simplicity and visual flair. This is stupendous storytelling; the familiar tales suddenly sound new minted as they are told by the community to the community. The children of Israel make their exodus from Egypt across the Red Sea and six billowing sheets of material part and then come together to engulf Pharaoh. As they do so you hear in the rhythmic stamping of feet and staves the journeys of refugees through all time and across all terrain. And you suddenly realise what this bombed-out cathedral symbolises, its jagged ruins silhouetted against the dusk.

Among the vast structures, swaths of colour and great set pieces, the tiny moments are given due attention. As the flood recedes and the umbrellas are put away, a child dressed in white suddenly appears, a sprig of greenery in her hand. It is impossible not to be moved. Curiously, the second half, The Life and Death of Jesus Christ, which is staged by the Polish street theatre group Teatr Biuro Podrozy, is a slight let-down.

The script is pedestrian and the narrative too telescoped; some scenes outstay their welcome. Although the community are doing it better than the professionals, there is plenty to marvel at here, from the Three King's mode of transport to the Holy Family's flight into Egypt via a hot air balloon. At the end, a rough wooden effigy of Jesus hangs over the altar end of the cathedral and a host of angels run around in wild excitement waving bells. As the sound rises up through the open roof your spirits soar up with it.

Until August 5. Box office: 024-7655 3055.