Second Trimester is the transgender Bollywood family joy we all need to see
From the Amitabh Bachchan voiceover narrating the show, to the Bollywood stars cast as each family member to hide their identity – the show is full of South Asian trans euphoria
“I want to have a baby”, Krishna Istha stands on one end of the stage, firmly announcing his plans to his mother, Geetha Shankar, who stands facing him on the other side of the stage. Behind them, there’s an interactive screen showing ‘Notflix’, which lists Geetha’s favourite Bollywood films – we watched her scroll through these, as well as TikToks and WhatsApps, as we walked in earlier.
Geetha reacts and, as they both turn to the audience and back to each other, they play out how the real-life conversation went when Geetha’s trans child Krishna announced he wanted to get pregnant with his partner – who is also trans.
We aren’t faced with transphobia – the expectation when walking into a show where a trans child is telling their parent they are “doing trans things”, is unbridled trauma – but instead, we are led through an intimate retelling of Geetha’s life, where she reveals secrets to Krishna that ultimately bring them closer together.
What is Second Trimester about?
Krishna and Geetha (real-life child and parent) come together in Second Trimester, a play that followed Istha’s successful run of First Trimester – where Krishna and their partner Logan interview 100s of potential sperm donors live on stage, instead of going through the formalised process that they found too clinical.
And amazingly, they found a sperm donor.
Now, they’ve opened another intimate door for us to peek through, and this one is laced with emotion.
Directed with great care by award-winning stage and screen director and dramaturg Milli Bhatia (seven methods of killing kylie jenner and Blue Mist), this play is interactive, yet incredibly mindful. Since Geetha has never performed before, the audience feel a love for her that they would for their own mother, as she looks to Krishna at times for her lines. When she tells a story, be it about the infidelity she experienced or the fire she lived through, Krishna hands a device to Geetha to choose whether she needs a break, her lines read back to her, or to continue. When she selects a three-minute break, the audience sighs in relief – the moment has called for us all to join her in some rest.
Because although she is an accepting and loving mother, she retells a past that reflects back on us. Her experiences aren’t exactly universal, but the patriarchal and unfair expectations women face within some South Asian communities cause many audience members to leave the show feeling pensive. And many, including me, in tears.
“The audience screams in hysterics”
But it is also filled with laughter – like when Krishna and Geetha comically re-enact the calls she had with an American psychic, who foretold her three truths, many of which actually ended up coming true. Or when Geetha jumps in her car to the soundtrack of M.I.A.’s Bad Girls, wearing sunglasses and smoking fake cigarettes, as Krishna uses a leaf blower behind her as a wind machine for her headscarf – the audience screams in hysterics.
The most successful part of the show lies in Krishna’s competence as a theatre maker. He is a London-based performance artist, screenwriter, comedian and theatre maker, creating socially conscious, form-pushing works about taboo or underrepresented experiences of gender, race and sexual politics. He wrote on Sex Education (Season 4, Episode 3), and was one of the comedians featured on the Netflix special Hannah Gadsby’s Gender Agenda.
It was in 2023 when 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.
Their journey then continued in the show First Trimester, which last year finished a worldwide tour, having completed runs in London, New Zealand, Copenhagen, Dublin and Australia. First Trimester was nominated for an Off West End Award (OFFIES 2024) in the category IDEA PRODUCTION: Experimental Theatre, and won the Judge’s Choice Award at Dublin Fringe Festival.
South Asian trans euphoria
Second Trimester allows us a deeper look into Krishna’s life, as a South Asian trans person with a parent who loves and cares for them. It’s a reminder of the trauma our parents secretly carry and how it can inform reactions to the lives of their queer and trans kids.
From the Amitabh Bachchan voiceover narrating the show, to the Bollywood stars cast as each family member to hide their identity – the show is full of South Asian trans euphoria. And for many who don’t have mothers like Geetha, it’s a reminder that they exist and the love is real.
Catch Second Trimester on 11 May at Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts as part of Brighton Festival, 20 to 21 May at Cambridge Junction as part of DISRUPT Festival, and 27 to 28 May at The Lowry as part of SICK! Festival.