"It takes the saga of Thebes and reframes it for modern times, seeking peace amid conflict. For today's world, it carries profound meaning."

According to the festival committee, preparations for the Wuzhen performances started more than two years ago. The technical team made six trips to Germany to coordinate the massive project.

This year, the German theater company will bring more than 90 performers, 72 crew members and over 400 pieces of stage equipment to the water town of Wuzhen.

The production has already earned top honors in Germany. In the 2023-24 critics' poll by Theater Heute magazine, Deutsches SchauSpielHaus Hamburg was named "Theater of the Year", Lina Beckmann won "Actress of the Year", and Laius was voted "Production of the Year".

Meng recalls first watching Laius: "I barely understood a word of German, yet for an hour and a half I laughed nonstop. It was unlike any performance I'd ever seen."

City of Humanity is one of the six sections of this year's festival, running from Oct 16 to 26 with 25 specially invited productions.

Among them, 10 productions are from China, while 15 are works from nine other countries including France, Canada and Malaysia. In total, there will be 71 performances across 10 venues in Wuzhen.

For this year's main poster, contemporary artist Xu Bing designed the festival theme "Swirling Up "with his iconic "square word calligraphy", blending English words with the brushstrokes and structures of Chinese calligraphy.