The book charts the development of collaboratively-created performances from the 1950s to the present day. Companies discussed include the Living Theatre, Open Theatre, Australian Performing Group, People Show, Teatro Campesino, Theatre de Complicite, Legs on the Wall, Forced Entertainment and Third Angel. Against this background of enormous variety, fundamental questions are posed: 'What is devised theatre?'; 'Why have theatre-makers chosen to devise performances since the 1950s?' and 'How has devised performance changed over the last fifty years?'