Second Trimester
Krishna Istha and Geetha Shankar. Directed by Milli Bhatia. Produced by BAC.
Information
Time: 7:30pm
Tickets: Pay What You Can (Recommended Price £16)*
*all orders subject to a transaction fee of £2
Running Time: 1 hour 30 minutes (no interval)
Age Recommendation: 16+
This event takes place in person in our Council Chamber
Priority booking is now open to BAC Champions and Hive Members.
General booking opens Wednesday 21 Jan at 12pm
An ambitious new show exploring multi-generational pregnancy stories and untold family histories.
Four years ago, Krishna told his mum he was trying to get pregnant and she freaked out. Like, massively freaked out. Krishna didn’t know why. It’s rare for a fight between them to end in tears. But this one did. . . and for good reason.
Love triangles. Missing people. A pregnant son. In Second Trimester, trans performance artist Krishna Istha and his mother, Geetha Shankar, confront pregnancy, loss, gender, and the weight of inherited memories in this cinematic, Bollywood-inspired epic family saga.
One stage. Two generations. Endless drama. Based on a true story, Second Trimester asks: how well can you ever really know your parents?
Second Trimester is the anticipated second show in a trilogy of work, and is the first Making Waves show produced and presented by BAC. The critically acclaimed First Trimester was presented at BAC in 2023.
★★★★★ ‘Addictive’ What’s On Stage
★★★★ ‘An antidote of the age’ Irish Times
*Reviews for First Trimester
A Making Waves Major Commission by Battersea Arts Centre. Made possible with funding by Arts Council England and Cockayne 10th Anniversary Grants for the Arts.
Additionally Commissioned by Attenborough Arts Centre, Cambridge Junction, The Lowry, Marlborough Productions, SICK! Festival.
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About Making Waves
Making Waves is a new national commissioning programme funded by an Arts Council England Project Grant and Cockayne Grants for the Arts 10th Anniversary Grant.
It provides bespoke opportunities for a cohort of artists to develop extraordinary new work through commissions, residencies, artist development programmes, national and international touring.
Making Waves brings together the diverse strengths of a network of 11 national partners to create the conditions for new work to flourish and revitalise touring networks for artists and partners.
The partners are Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts (ACCA), Battersea Arts Centre, Cambridge Junction, FABRIC, The Gulbenkian Arts Centre, Lancaster Arts, Lowry, Norfolk & Norwich Festival, SPILL Festival of Performance, MAYK and Unlimited.
Biographies
Krishna Istha
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.
Previously, they wrote on Netflix’s SEX EDUCATION, and was one of the comedians on the Netflix Comedy Special Hannah Gadsby’s Gender Agenda. Krishna was a Barbican Centre Open Lab artist (2021-22), and an Arts Admin Bursary Artist (2020-21).
Krishna’s most recent theatre show 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 them and their partner a sperm donor. It won Judge’s Choice Award at Dublin Fringe Festival, and was nominated for an Off West End Award (OFFIES 2024). Krishna and their partner Logan Rea were recipients of the Netflix Documentary Talent Fund, and made the short film SPERM DONORS WANTED! about First Trimester and their journey together as a trans couple trying to start a family.
Credits
Lead Artist & Writer: Krishna Istha (he/they)
Performer & Co-Creator: Geetha Shankar (she/her)
Director: Milli Bhatia (she/her)
Creative Producer: Ruby Glaskin (she/her)
Set & Costume Designer: Ting – Huan 挺歡 Christeene Urquhart (she/her)
Sound Designer: Joe Jackson (he/him)
Composer: Holly Khan (she/her)
Video Designer: IDONTLOVEYOUANYMORE – Anna (she/they) & Davi (they/them)
Creative Coder: Suzanne Hurst (she/her)
Dramaturg: Paula Varjack (she/they)
Script Dramaturg: Saraid De Silva (she/her)
Well-being Support: Sabah Choudrey (He/they)
Artist Access Support: Lottie Vallis (she/her)
Production Manager: Benji Huntrods (He/him)
Technical Stage Manager: Florian Lim (they/them)
PR Associate: Joy Parkinson (she/her)
Marketing & Branding Creative Director: Emily Drake (She/her)
Senior Producer for BAC: Oscar Owen
Access
PRE EVENT INFORMATION
This event takes place in person in our Council Chamber. This space is on the first floor, with step-free access via a lift.
If you have booked a ticket you will receive an email from us before your performance detailing important information about your visit.
PERSONAL ASSISTANT/COMPANION TICKETS
If you require the assistance of a friend or helper to attend, we can make a free ticket available for your companion. You can book access companion tickets online or contact the Box Office to book by emailing boxoffice@bac.org.uk.
To book a free access companion online:
- log in to your account here
- go to ‘Other preferences’ and tick ‘I require a personal assistant/companion’.
- Choose the performance, date and seats you would like and if you add at least 2 tickets to your basket, then one of these will automatically become free.
PERFORMANCE INFORMATION
There will be Live Captioning performances taking place on Saturday 18 April at 7:30pm and Friday 24 April at 7:30pm. Live captioned by Nicola Dutton.
There will be a BSL interpreted and audio described performance taking place on on Friday 24 April at 7:30pm. Interpreted by Pettra St Hilaire. Audio description by Shivaangee Agrawal.
There will be an Audio Described performance taking place on Friday 24 April at 7:30pm. Described by Shivaangee.
Content
- Haze
- Loud music
- Flashing lights
- References to child loss
- References to transphobia
- References to racism
This show is still in development and content guidance may be subject to change
All performances will be Relaxed. We invite you to make yourself comfortable and move around if you need to and if you need to leave the performance at any point you will be allowed to return to the space when you feel ready.
We want our shows to be as accessible to as many people as possible.
We offer tickets to most shows on a Pay What You Can basis throughout the year.
Tickets for Council Chamber performances in 2026 start at £9.50, and we have recommended pricing to help you choose a price that works for you.
We know that ticket price is a huge barrier for some. If you can afford to pay the recommended price or more, choosing to do so supports those that can’t. It makes it possible for us to continue to offer Pay What You Can and welcome those who otherwise wouldn’t be able to attend.
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