British Council is proud to support the development of Krishna Istha's SECOND TRIMESTER, part of their M:otherhood Project, a groundbreaking trilogy exploring trans parenthood, fertility & family through performance.

As part of Liveworks Festival 2024, the Open Studio session for SECOND TRIMESTER invites you to share experiences of queer family, healthcare & parenting. Created with Krishna's mother Geetha, this intimate work explores family transformation & the profound desire to carry a child.

Krishna, Geetha, and the team will be working at Liveworks, with an open-door policy, letting people into their research and developmental processes. Audiences, queer folks and their parents, are welcome into the rehearsal space every day to witness and unpack aspects of the development process, and to experience elements of the show. The purpose of sharing work in this open studio format is to challenge and interrogate artist development processes, to create transparency around the research and development weeks, and to open up questions about how we develop work and the models we use, which we know don't always serve the work itself. Audiences and participants are asked to reflect on ancestry and the price of biology (in relation to queerness, gender, and race).

Second Trimester is part two of Krishna Istha's M:OTHERHOOD Project (trilogy). Part one of the project, FIRST TRIMESTER, is a one-of-a-kind durational experience, in which Krishna interviews 100s of participants live on stage, in a quest to find him and his partner a sperm donor. SECOND TRIMESTER is the sequel, and a show that will be performed by Krishna and his mother, when Krishna is finally pregnant. The Open Studio session will be held at Carriageworks and will be a relaxed, welcoming environment where stories matter. Children welcome, no performance experience needed.

Friday 25 Oct 2024 - 2:00pm
Saturday 26 Oct 2024 - 10:00am

 

More information and book tickets via Performance Space.

Krishna Istha is a London-based performance artist, screenwriter, comedian and theatre maker. They create socially conscious form-pushing works about taboo or underrepresented experiences of gender, race and sexual politics.

Most recently, they wrote on Netflix’s Sex Education (Season 4, Episode 3), and was one of the comedians featured on the Netflix Special Hannah Gadsby’s Gender Agenda. In 2023, Krishna and their partner Logan Rea were recipients of the Netflix Documentary Talent Fund, and made the short film SPERM DONORS WANTED! about their journey together as a trans couple trying to start a family.

Krishna was 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 came Runner-Up on Screenshot (2021) — a competition for comedy writer-performers hosted by Sister Pictures and South of the River Pictures.

Krishna’s most recent theatre show First Trimester (Five Stars, Whats On Stage) is currently touring, having done dates in London, New Zealand, Copenhagen, and Dublin, with more tour dates on the horizon. 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. 

Currently, Krishna has multiple original television series in development and is writing their first feature film for BBC Films. 

Krishna has also shared their form-pushing practice through lectures, talks, mentorships and workshops for students at National Youth Theatre, Central St Martins, ALRA, Dones Visuals (Barcelona), and The Fabric Workshop and museum (Philadelphia, USA) amongst others. 

Learn more via KRISHNA ISTHA

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