Berliner Ensemble, David Espinosa among headliners for inaugural Batumi Theatre Festival

The Berliner Ensemble troupe and director David Espinosa will be among headliners for the first edition of the Batumi International Theatre Festival, with shows from Georgian counterparts joining the programme in the Black Sea coastline city starting tomorrow.

The German company's production Medea and My Great Work by the Spanish director - a "miniature theatre of epic dimensions" (Ganz Novi Festival) - will come to the Batumi Drama Theatre venue and the Georgian festival's own stage within its two-week run.

In Michael Thalheimer's staging of the Euripides play, premiered in the German capital in 2013, Constanze Becker, Marc Oliver Schulze and other actors of the troupe will bring to local and visiting theatre-goers in Batumi the production with dramaturgy by Sibylle Baschung.

Deeply hurt by [a] betrayal and distraught by Jason’s shameless defiance of their bond of marriage and vows of fidelity, Medea plots a cruel revenge. Boundless love turns into boundless hatred - Berliner Ensemble

See a teaser for the Berliner Ensemble production of 'Medea':

In the timeless work that has inspired creatives over the ages to use it for everything from explorations into psychoanalysis to feminist interpretations, the guest performers will go under lighting design by Johan Delaere and Ulrich Eh and on the backdrop of sets by Olaf Altmann.

In costumes by Nehle Balkhausen, their performance will come with sound design by Bert Wrede and video by Alexander du Prel in the one hour, 45-minute show. Medea will run at the festival on December 7 and 8.

With My Great Work the audience in the seaside resort city will see Espinosa's critical take on big-budget theatre productions and artistic value of such an approach to stage work.

My Great Work is what I would do if I had an unlimited budget, the largest theatre in the world, 300 actors on stage, a military orchestra, a rock band, animals, cars and a helicopter - David Espinosa

With the production the Spanish director offers an insight "into the limits of theatre" (Ganz Novi Festival) and has called it a "utopia" centred around ideas of social and economic precarity and condition of labour, all at a 1:87 scale.

See a teaser for 'My Great Work' by director David Espinosa:

The 60-minute work directed by Espinosa and Cia. Hekinah Degul is a collaboration with dancer Africa Navarro. Espinosa was also involved in creating stage design with Air Models and Architecture Projects and worked along with Santos Martinez for sound and music for the staging.

Beside the two shows, the inaugural festival will present Poland's Modjeska Theatre in Legnica with Faithful Pack, their portrayal of a community exchanging political, economic and social stability for the sacrifice of a life of a child from every generation.

In Paweł Wolak and Katarzyna Dworak's production the disturbing idyl is interrupted when an individual confronts the silence around the uneasy pact and with it, the comfort bubble of the society. The Polish group will be on stage for the festival on December 15.

The line-up for the festival also has local troupes - from the Batumi Puppet and Youth Professional State Theatre to the Experimental 'Theatre Everywhere' - and more guest groups from Europe to complete its rich programming for the launch edition.

The Batumi International Theatre Festival will run in the city between December 7-20.