First Trimester
Krishna Istha
Tickets on sale August.
Australian Premiere
Presented by Arts House and Melbourne Fringe as part of Passport
Thursday 16 October – Saturday 18 October 2025
Thu – Fri, 7pm
Sat, 1pm
Thu – Fri, 3 hours
Sat, 2-hour sessions beginning 1pm, 3pm, 6pm, 8pm or
Durational 9-hour sessions running 1pm – 10pm with 1 hour interval 5pm – 6pm
Please note: Due to the format of the show, there may be a small wait to enter the space if you arrive after the start time.
Tactile Tour and Audio Describer Guides
Sat 18 October, 1pm – 3pm session
Tactile Tour will commence 1 hour prior
Available on request – book by Fri 10 October
Describer guides available for meet and greet on arrival, tactile tour and one-on-one live descriptions of the performance.
Auslan performance
Fri 17 October
Post-show artist talk for all ticket holders
Fri 17 October
Sensory friendly and relaxed elements
All performances have relaxed elements and are sensory adapted. Audience members are welcome to bring babies and children, come and go as they please, be themselves, make noise, stim, and respond to the work for the duration. Krishna will do a short introduction to the work before each show. There will be no strobe or flashing lights.
Pre-show access session
All shows include a 15-minute drop-in session 30 minutes prior to start time for anyone who would benefit from being in the performance space beforehand, to learn more about the work and meet the performer in a relaxed setting.
Tickets
Standard $40
Reduced $25
Durational $60
BLAKTIX $10
Companion Card Free
A small transaction fee will be charged per order.
Warnings
Guests under the age of 16 are welcomed and must be accompanied by a parent or guardian.
This performance contains adult themes, triggering content, coarse language and loud music. There is no strobe or flashing lights. The participants taking part in the live conversation have not rehearsed and do not know the questions before taking part. We therefore cannot know what will be said in advance, however conversations will likely cover a multitude of topics relating to family, parenting, birth, abortion, queer and trans identity, and race.
An Access Guide will be available for download prior to the event.
Arts House
North Melbourne Town Hall
521 Queensberry St
North Melbourne
Wheelchair Accessible
Quiet Space Available
Assistance Animal
Companion Card
Auslan Interpreting
Audio description
Assistive Listening
Aural Rating 75%First Trimester explores human connection and parenthood, challenging expectations and redefining what it means to create a family as a transgender person.
Embark on a journey with London-based performance artist Krishna Istha as they search for the ‘perfect’ sperm donor.
Continuing a world-wide search, the Australian premiere of First Trimester invites you witness intimate live interviews between Krishna and hundreds of participants, in a quest to find them and their partner a sperm donor or at least discover the qualities that make them a perfect match.
Krishna asks questions that range from funny to serious, from matter of fact to philosophical, in order to make the ultimate connection.
“Did you grow up with pets?”
“Where do you store your memories?”
“What do you value more, kindness or intelligence?”
And, most importantly for Krishna, “Have you watched The Princess Diaries?”
Call for participants!
Alongside witnessing interviews unfold, you can also sign-up as a prospective donor. Participants aged 18 to 60, from all backgrounds, are welcome. Each interview is pivotal in helping Krishna get closer to finding the right donor.
For more information, visit Krishna Istha – First Trimester | Melbourne Fringe.
‘Addictive’ – What’s on Stage ★★★★★
‘An antidote of the age’ – Irish Times ★★★★
About the artist
Krishna 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’s most recent theatre show First Trimester has toured London, New Zealand, Copenhagen, and Dublin. 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.
Artist statement
We would much rather know if the donor is a kind person, if they grew up with pets, or when they are happiest—questions that might reveal aspects of their psyche. After all, this person is going to be part of our lives in one way or another. If not now, then in 18 years when our child can legally obtain information about their donor. We’d much prefer that they be a nice person (and not a transphobe!) than have multiple doctorates in theoretical physics!
“WOULDN’T IT BE AMAZING IF WE COULD SPEAK TO HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE TO GENUINELY CONNECT WITH THEM, TO HELP WORK OUT WHO OUR IDEAL DONOR IS?”
I jokingly said this to Logan after we had scoured many sperm banks. And now... that joke has turned into this show! It may have started as a throwaway comment, but along the way, this project has collected an incredible team of creatives who are all either queer/trans people hoping to have children themselves, products of sperm donation, or allies who are as invested in our baby as we are. This has made the project blur the line between life and art for many of us.
Our aim is to potentially find a sperm donor, or at the very least, clarify what qualities we are looking for by discovering and appreciating the people I speak to on stage. As transgender people, Logan and I were often unable to find the right information to aid our process to parenthood. It became quite important for us to be able to use the resources this project has afforded us—to work with experts like midwives, lawyers, obstetricians, fertility experts, etc—and be able to archive their expertise for other trans people to use in the future. For these reasons, we are also making a documentary at the same time! What you see on stage is a live working film set.
Artistically, First Trimester ultimately asks: What does storytelling look like when a documentary meets live performance—aesthetically, structurally, narratively, and in form?”
- Krishna Istha
Artistic credits
Set and Costume Design: Ting Huan Urquhart
Lighting Design: Martha Godfrey
Composer and Sound Design: Olive Mondegreen
Dramaturg: Paula Varjack
Producer: Ruby Glaskin
Production Manager: Helen Mugridge
Camera Person: Ru Parker-Harbourd
Sound and Floor Manager: Florian Lim
Wellbeing Officer: Sabah Choudrey
Details
Tickets on sale August.
Australian Premiere
Presented by Arts House and Melbourne Fringe as part of Passport
Thursday 16 October – Saturday 18 October 2025
Thu – Fri, 7pm
Sat, 1pm
Thu – Fri, 3 hours
Sat, 2-hour sessions beginning 1pm, 3pm, 6pm, 8pm or
Durational 9-hour sessions running 1pm – 10pm with 1 hour interval 5pm – 6pm
Please note: Due to the format of the show, there may be a small wait to enter the space if you arrive after the start time.
Tactile Tour and Audio Describer Guides
Sat 18 October, 1pm – 3pm session
Tactile Tour will commence 1 hour prior
Available on request – book by Fri 10 October
Describer guides available for meet and greet on arrival, tactile tour and one-on-one live descriptions of the performance.
Auslan performance
Fri 17 October
Post-show artist talk for all ticket holders
Fri 17 October
Sensory friendly and relaxed elements
All performances have relaxed elements and are sensory adapted. Audience members are welcome to bring babies and children, come and go as they please, be themselves, make noise, stim, and respond to the work for the duration. Krishna will do a short introduction to the work before each show. There will be no strobe or flashing lights.
Pre-show access session
All shows include a 15-minute drop-in session 30 minutes prior to start time for anyone who would benefit from being in the performance space beforehand, to learn more about the work and meet the performer in a relaxed setting.
Tickets
Standard $40
Reduced $25
Durational $60
BLAKTIX $10
Companion Card Free
A small transaction fee will be charged per order.
Warnings
Guests under the age of 16 are welcomed and must be accompanied by a parent or guardian.
This performance contains adult themes, triggering content, coarse language and loud music. There is no strobe or flashing lights. The participants taking part in the live conversation have not rehearsed and do not know the questions before taking part. We therefore cannot know what will be said in advance, however conversations will likely cover a multitude of topics relating to family, parenting, birth, abortion, queer and trans identity, and race.
An Access Guide will be available for download prior to the event.
Arts House
North Melbourne Town Hall
521 Queensberry St
North Melbourne
Wheelchair Accessible Quiet Space Available Assistance Animal Companion Card Auslan Interpreting Audio description Assistive Listening Aural Rating 75%Supported by –
This project has been commissioned by Roundhouse, Battersea Arts Centre and Marlborough Productions. Supported by Arts Council England, British Council, Arts House through City of Melbourne and Melbourne Fringe. International touring co-produced by Here & Now – Performance Created in England.
Image credit: Jordan Rossi and Emily Drake
Image description: A triptic of photos of Krishna Istha, a brown trans person in their 30’s, wearing green and black. All of the three photos are against an orange background. In the photo on the left Krishna is kneeling down and looking at the camera. In the photo in the middle Krishna’s hand holds a container that has the word ‘Sperm’ written on it. In the photo on the right Krishna is standing up and pointing at the Camera.
