Theatre director Deepan Sivaraman on adapting Henrik Ibsen’s Peer Gynt

I like to create madness, hallucinations, I guess it goes with my madness.” His adaptation of Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen's Peer Gynt is one of the highlights of the festival. In the play, it is easy to see how Sivaraman creates new stage languages — His Peer Gynt is a visual drama, not confined by the text or a box stage.
Sivaraman, 38, director of the Thrissur-based Oxygen Theatre Company, is one of India's most-sought after modern theatre persons, his reputation enhanced after his powerful play, Spinal Cord, won the Mahindra Excellence in Theatre Awards this year. “I start with space, not form or words. I draw the space I want to work with and then make several drawings to give shape to the play, the actors’ movement, stage setting, lighting, drawing all the scenes with action and no dialogue,” he says.