Krishna Istha to Present World Premiere of SECOND TRIMESTER at BAC Ahead of Tour (Full List)

Award-winning performance artist, theatre-maker, comedian and screenwriter Krishna Istha will present the world premiere of their new work Second Trimester at Battersea Arts Centre on Thursday, April 16 at 7:30 p.m.

Running at BAC until April 25 before touring the UK, the new work will be directed by two-time Olivier nominated stage and screen director Milli Bhatia.

The second show in Istha's trilogy of works on parenthood, Second Trimester is an ambitious new show exploring multi-generational pregnancy stories and untold family histories. Co-created and performed by Istha and their mother Geetha Shankar, a son and mother take to the stage to confront pregnancy, queer family-making, loss, gender and the weight of inherited memories in this cinematic, Bollywood-inspired epic family saga.

A Battersea Arts Centre Production , Second Trimester is one of two Making Waves major commissions to be produced by BAC over the next two years. The work will have its world premiere at BAC, before touring to Gulbenkian in Canterbury, Cambridge Junction as part of DISRUPT Festival and Lowry in Salford as part of SICK! Festival until Thursday, May 28.

The latest production is the follow up to First Trimester, the first performance in the trilogy of Istha’s work, which has been touring internationally since its world premiere at Battersea Arts Centre in 2023. Winner of the Judge’s Choice Award at the Dublin Fringe Festival in 2025, and nominated for an Off West End Awards (OFFIES) in 2024, it offers a rare opportunity to contribute to and witness queer family-making as Istha searches for the ‘perfect’ sperm donor.

The works are testament to Istha’s portfolio in creating socially conscious, form-pushing works about underrepresented experiences of gender, race and sexual politics. As an artist, they work across performance, screenwriting, comedy and theatre making. Most recently, they wrote on Netflix’s Sex Education (Season 4, Episode 3), and were one of the comedians featured on the Netflix Special Hannah Gadsby’s Gender Agenda. Currently, Krishna has multiple original television series in development and is writing their first feature film for BBC Films.

"When I told my Mum that I wanted to carry a baby, I learnt that her reaction was driven by her own experiences of parenthood," said Istha. "She had held onto secrets in her life because no one was there to listen, and as an artist who finds theatre therapeutic, I proposed the two of us make a show together. I make art as a way to process my life, and I wanted to give her a place where she could tell her own story and feel heard."

"I want to be part of this show because my journey with my trans son has become my greatest teacher and inspiration," said Shankar. "It reminded me that becoming oneself is an act of extraordinary grace."

Second Trimester will have its world premiere at BAC on Thursday, April 16 at 7:30 p.m. It will run until Saturday, April 25. All performances are relaxed. The Saturday, April 18 performance will have live captioning by Nicola Dutton. The Friday, April 24 performance will have live captioning, audio description and BSL. The show is live captioned by Dutton, interpreted by Pettra St Hilaire, and described by Shivaangee Agrawal.

To coincide and honour the themes of the performance, a series of events called ‘Bring Your Folks’ will be programmed at BAC on Friday 17 and Wednesday 22 April. These nights will be designed for queer people and their guardians, alongside nights for South Asian folks and their guardians, to watch the show together in community with others doing the same.

Second Trimester is Pay What You Can, with a recommended price of £16.

The tour locations and dates for Second Trimester are as follows:

Thursday, May 7 through Friday, May 8, at 7:30 p.m.
Gulbenkian, Canterbury

Wednesday, May 20 through Thursday, May 21
Cambridge Junction, as part of DISRUPT Festival

Wednesday, May 27 through Thursday, May 28
Lowry, Salford, as part of SICK! Festival