The country's prime theatre meet will open with an exhibition paying tribute to the great Slovenian writer and playwright Ivan Cankar (1876-1918) and the home theatre's ballet production of Peer Gynt.

The competition programme will see eleven productions picked by the festival's selector Petra Vidali among 98 productions of the past season. Commenting on her pick, Vidali said they were dominated by women.

"I can't remember ever seeing (almost) exclusively actresses in so many performances. I can't remember a year with such a focus on women and such diversity in performances and their meaning," said Vidali.

Best productions, directors, actors, set and costume designs will be declared at the award ceremony on Sunday, 23 October, when the Borštnik Ring for lifetime achievement will be presented to Dare Valič.

Apart from the eleven productions in the running for the awards, the festival will also feature six other Slovenian shows as well as five productions from Sweden, Poland, Croatia and Germany.

The latter have been selected by the festival's artistic director Alja Predan and will include the production of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? by Rezidenztheater of Munich.

The director of the German production, Martin Kušej, will also be on the judging panel.

After a positive experience last year, all Slovenian productions will be offered for viewing to some 30 international theatre experts invited to the festival.

Most of the performances will be put on the stage at the SNG Maribor theatre.