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First Trimester
by Krishna Istha
This groundbreaking performance offers a rare opportunity to contribute to and witness queer family-making.
Embark on a journey with performance artist Krishna Istha as they search for the ‘perfect’ sperm donor. The show will explore human connection and parenthood, and challenge expectations, redefining what it means to create a family as a transgender person.
A one-of-a-kind durational experience, First Trimester invites you to witness intimate live interviews between Krishna and 100s of participants over two weeks, in a quest to find them and their partner a sperm donor, or at least discover the qualities that bring them closer to their perfect match.
Krishna asks questions that range from funny to serious, from matter-of-fact information to philosophical perspectives in order to make the ultimate connection.
Audience members are invited to watch as the interviews unfold, but are also welcome to sign-up as a participant and prospective donor, regardless of their ability to donate sperm. Participants age from 18 to 60+ from all backgrounds. Each interview is pivotal in helping Krishna inch closer to finding the right donor.
First Trimester was nominated for an Off West End Award (OFFIES 2024), under the category IDEA PRODUCTION: Experimental Theatre, and won Judge’s Choice Award at Dublin Fringe Festival.
Commissioned by Roundhouse, Battersea Arts Centre and Marlborough Productions.
Supported by Arts Council England.
Dates:
Battersea Arts Centre, London: 1-11 November, 2023
Basement Theatre, Wellington: 15-17 February, 2024
Warehouse9, Copenhagen: 16-17 March, 2024
Project Arts Centre, Dublin: 19-21 September, 2024
Schlachthaus Theater, Bern: 10-11 May, 2025
Krishna Istha is a London-based performance artist, comedian, theatre maker, and screenwriter. They create socially conscious, form-pushing works about taboo or underrepresented experiences of gender, race and sexual politics.
Currently, they are writing on Netflix’s ‘Sex Education’ (Season 4) and are a recipient of the Netflix Documentary Talent Fund. More recently, they were a Barbican Centre Open Lab artist (2021-22) and an Arts Admin Bursary Artist (2020-21).
They were one of two shortlisted writers for the Sky Arts & Royal Society of Literature Writers Awards under screenwriting (2022) and placed Runner-Up on Screenshot (2021), a competition for comedy writer-performers hosted by Sister Pictures and South of the River Pictures, and judged by Olivia Coleman, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Lolly Adefope & Rosie Jones.