The Greeks are outside the walls of Troy: The battle of the systems has turned into trench warfare when the Amazon nation appear outside the army’s camp. The Amazons are proud female warriors – and they are led by Queen Penthesilea who is looking for the once shining hero Achilles. She, who is not allowed to, is in love with him. And he, who cannot say the words, loves her. They are both tired of killing. But war is greater than any heroine and any hero. And so a relentless game of love and death unfolds while all around them, the battle fields are coming to life.

The Georgia-born writer and director Nino Haratischvili is one of the most significant literary voices in Germany. Her novels Das achte leben (Für Brilka), title of the English translation The eighth life (For Brilka), from 2014, Die katze und der general (2018) and Das mangelnde licht (2022) have won numerous awards and tell us about a country on the margins of Europe, about an overly powerful Russia and about a permanent state of war.

In Penthesileia. Ein requiem, Nino Haratischvilli presents a reinterpretation of the ancient myth and examines the collision of two worlds with criminological precision. Together with actors from Georgia and members of the DT acting company, she will stage this murder for love in a bilingual production.