Devised theatre is a process that seeks to inject a sense of democracy in the way a play is readied for the stage. It began in Paris and involves having a malleable idea for a script. But there is nothing written down on paper to begin with. And the lines for the characters begin to form only after each member of the cast and crew — be it the actors or technicians — starts leaving his own creative imprint on that initial idea, allowing it to blossom into a coherent narrative. Everyone's an equal stakeholder in this exercise, and there is no power structure whatsoever.

"The idea is to break the hierarchal tradition of making theatre that's written by somebody, who is the God. Then there is someone else who interprets the script, who is the boss, and the actors are considered replaceable. So, devised theatre was a counter to this system, and the intention is to show that actors aren't tools. They are artistes who can create performances on their own and are thus given power positions," says Titas Dutta, who studied this form of drama for two years at the Berlin branch of The London International School of Performing Arts (LISPA).