Trans Identity, Disability and IVF at Melbourne Fringe with Oliver Ayres and Kaite Head

Trans artist Oliver Ayres and his partner, producer Kaite Head, join Peta Hooke to discuss their new Melbourne Fringe show No Seasons. The performance explores Oliver’s experience freezing his eggs at nineteen, living with disability and chronic illness, and the couple’s ongoing conversations about parenthood, love, and choice.

Together, they share how turning such a personal story into theatre has helped them reflect on identity, access, and inclusion. Peta connects with their journey through her own experience of IVF, as they discuss what it means to make art that’s emotionally honest, authentic, and accessible.

No Seasons runs at the Melbourne Fringe Festival from 7–18 October.

Find out more and book tickets:

https://www.melbournefringe.com.au/whats-on/events/no-seasons

Connect with Ollie and Kaite: 

Website: https://www.skintproducing.com/no-seasons

Instagram: @ogcayres @skint.producing

Connect with Peta:

Instagram: @petahooke

Website: www.icantstandpodcast.com

Email: icantstandpodcast@gmail.com

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Transcript:

Peta:Hello, and welcome to The I Can’t Stand Podcast, the show exploring what it's like to live with a disability. My name is Peta Hooke, I have cerebral palsy, and I'm your host. Each week I sit down with remarkable people whose lived experiences and perspectives are reshaping how disability is understood — not just within our community, but by non-disabled people too.

Today I'm joined by Oliver Ayres and Katie Head. Together, they’ve created an amazing new show called No Seasons, now showing at the Melbourne Fringe Festival.

At the heart of the work is Oliver's story as a trans man living with a chronic illness and disability. He froze his eggs when he was just nineteen. Now, as an adult, he's grappling with the deeply personal question of what to do with them. Katie, his partner and the producer of the show, is right alongside him. Together, they're exploring what feels right for them as individuals and as a couple.

No Seasons asks big questions about identity, IVF, disability and parenthood — themes that are close to my own life as well, having been through the experience of freezing my eggs. This conversation is about vulnerability, creativity, and what it means to make theatre inclusive and accessible. So, without any further ado, let's get into it.

Oliver:Hello, my name is Oliver Ayres. You can call me Ollie, and my pronouns are he/him. I’m an artist — a theatre maker, writer, actor and director. I’m a transgender man with lived experience of chronic illness and disability. I make live, experimental performance art that sits somewhere between gallery installation, theatre and performance art — but that’s what I do for a living.

Katie:My name is Katie Head. My pronouns are she/her. I'm also an artist. I work with Ollie as his producer, but also now as his dramaturg, which has been really exciting for us. I work across a range of different theatre projects, but mainly I do experimental performance with Ollie. I do comedy when I'm producing with other acts, and I also work contract to contract. One of my biggest employers is a company called Polyglot, which is an interactive children's theatre company.

Peta:Long-time listeners of the show will know that I’ve interviewed the creators of Polyglot, and I can certainly see why that would be an amazing synergy for you, Katie. It’s such an incredible piece of art for children to be introduced to inclusive art and to see how powerful that can be.

But enough about that — this is about No Seasons and you and Ollie. For those who don't know what the Fringe Festival is, can you tell us about it?

Katie:The Melbourne Fringe Festival is a festival that celebrates art that's on the fringes of what we might think of as traditional live performance. It's a place where you get to try things. Ollie and I have worked with them quite a bit, especially at the beginning of our careers, because you’re able to throw ideas at the wall and see what sticks. It’s known for being an access festival, which means everyone gets a go. It’s a beautiful celebration of art.

Peta:It’s another great example of why I’m proud to be a Melburnian — having a festival that’s so accepting of all kinds of people, including those who experience different forms of marginalisation. Fringe really understands the importance of disability inclusion and accessibility, which of course is something I’m passionate about, and I know you both are too.

You’re very passionate about this, and we’ll talk more about it later. But before we do, what are the dates for your show No Seasons at the Fringe Festival?

Katie:The Fringe Festival runs from the 1st to the 19th of October, and No Seasons runs from the 7th to the 18th at 7.30 pm.

Peta:I’m so excited because I’ll be going to your premiere on the 7th and I can’t wait to see No Seasons and everything it has to offer. How are you feeling, Ollie, about performing the show — and can you tell us a bit more about it?

Oliver:No Seasons has been in development for about a year now. It started as part of a residency with Brand X, an organisation in Sydney. I was their inaugural recipient of a Creative Access Mentorship Program as well as a Performing Arts Residency.

The show is quite expansive, but the short version is that it explores transness, disability and IVF — though it’s really much more than that. It’s an autobiographical piece of live performance that tells my true story. I’m transgender and had IVF — specifically, egg retrieval — when I was only nineteen. That’s really young to be having a procedure like that.

To the best of my knowledge, I was one of the first people in Australia to have that procedure bulk billed as part of gender-affirming care. There is some access to that service, but not usually when it’s urgent. So, that was quite a big deal.

The show explores the decisions Katie and I are making as a couple moving forward. It looks at that tender part of life where you start asking, “What are the possibilities for my future?” In our generation, those questions often sound like: “What’s my responsibility when it comes to bringing kids into the world? Should I? Should I not?”

But in our situation, these twenty-two eggs already exist. That creates a different kind of pressure that isn’t often spoken about. We’re really trying to represent that unique situation — but also connect it to larger ideas about family, queerness and trans identity.

Katie:The queer family lens is really important to us. It’s something that hasn’t been modelled much in society because of laws and social pressures that have historically held queer people back. It’s exciting that we’re now at a stage in our lives where we can explore that.

In many ways, we’re working it out in real time — and hopefully showing a younger generation that there are many ways to form a family. The show explores that too.

Ollie:My goal as an artist is to have people relate to the content deeply, regardless of their background.

There are three ways to experience No Seasons. It’s a headphone show — so while you watch what’s happening in the space, you also listen to one of three audio tracks. It’s a bit like a dance work combined with theatre.

When you enter, you choose one of three perspectives:

1. I am a parent, step-parent or guardian.

2. I am not any of those things, but I could be one day.

3. I am not any of those things and I never will be.

The choice you make determines the narrative you hear through your headphones and how you interpret what’s happening visually.

Peta:When I heard about the show, it immediately reminded me of a “choose your own adventure” story — but in real life, not a book. Because the audience chooses one of those three perspectives, they get to engage with the work through a lens that resonates with them personally. Or they can choose something completely different from their lived experience to see how it feels.

Ollie:Absolutely. That’s something I’m really enthusiastic about. We’re not policing those choices — we encourage curiosity. Pick whichever perspective interests you most.

It’s complex, though, because we’re essentially making three shows in one. This show is about exploring a choice that hasn’t yet been made, so it hums with possibility. I wanted the audience to share that sense of possibility — and even the feeling of missing out.

No matter what you choose, you’ll probably wonder what’s happening in the other versions. That mirrors how Katie and I feel in real life — that whatever we decide, there will always be an alternate version of our lives we can’t help imagining.

Katie:It’s really exciting for us as theatre-makers to create something that we haven’t seen done in quite this way before. We’re really interested in inviting people into our vulnerability, while also giving them permission to explore their own when they enter the space.

Peta:From a personal perspective, as a couple, do you think this process has helped you gain more clarity about what you might want to do with the eggs in the future?

Katie:It’s been really interesting. A huge part of the work is that it includes recorded interviews — conversations between Ollie and me, solo reflections, and interviews with Ollie’s parents.

Through making the show, we’ve thought about things in ways we hadn’t before. Sharing those ideas with our creative team and hearing their perspectives has also been powerful.

We’re at that point in life where a lot of people start thinking about having kids, and this show has definitely accelerated that conversation for us. I think, in some ways, it’s similar to how those conversations are often accelerated for people with disabilities or queer people — because we have to think about things more deliberately.

Ollie:Yeah, it’s such a deliberate choice for us. You’ve got to really plan for this kind of thing.

Katie:There’s the financial cost, the physical cost — all of it. We’re at a stage where we’re thinking seriously about it, but we’re also seeing the reality of what that means sooner than we expected.

Ollie:Exactly. During this process, we’ve found ourselves banging our heads against the wall trying to deal with the administrative and bureaucratic headache that comes with IVF — especially as queer people.

And then there are the bigger, existential questions you ask yourself: Should I even be doing this? Should anyone?

Peta:From my perspective, I always get excited when I see people choosing to do it — because in this world, it shows that people still have hope for the future.

As someone with a disability, I feel particularly connected to that. I also think a lot about what kind of parent I’d be, and whether a child would have a happy life with me as their mother. Those are big questions many of us face.

I imagine you might have thought about how a potential future child might one day engage with No Seasons. Have you considered how they might view it?

Ollie:Yes, actually. There’s a section of the show that speaks directly to that idea — I won’t spoil it, but in one of the audio streams, I address it quite openly.

A big part of this story is that I have twenty-two eggs frozen from when I was nineteen, collected before the onset of my chronic illness. That adds another layer of complexity.

There’s every possibility that those eggs could still be viable. That knowledge drives a lot of my thinking — because if we use them, it’s an act of creation, but also of surrender. You cast something into the world and lose control over its narrative. That’s a powerful and daunting feeling.

Katie:It’s also a love story. It’s a reflection of where we are right now, and a love letter to our relationship and to Ollie’s parents — who raised him with so much love. The show honours that and asks what the continuation of that love might look like.

We felt it was important to tell a story about a trans man who is supported by his family — not rejected. It’s a story about being held, being loved, and fighting for your right to reproductive healthcare.

Ollie:Yes, and that’s something I’m incredibly grateful for. I was only given this opportunity because my mum works in healthcare. She’s an oncology nurse who helps connect patients with care options, including reproductive health before chemotherapy.

She encouraged me to consider egg freezing, but left the choice to me. When I asked if I was even allowed, she said, “We’ll make sure you are.” She and another nurse petitioned the hospital director to have it bulk billed — which was extremely contentious at the time.

This was back in 2016. I remember being the only man in the room, the youngest by far. There were so many layers to that experience.

Peta:I have to say, I already love your mum, Ollie. It’s wonderful that you had that support and those advocates by your side.

Listeners will know I’ve shared my own IVF journey through my limited series Eggs, so I know how emotionally intense the process is. What was it like for you at nineteen, going through egg freezing?

Ollie:That’s the real truth of it — because so many glossy websites talk about IVF in ways that feel completely detached from reality.

In some ways, I was lucky because my mum protected me from a lot of the administrative battles — like having to justify my right to do it. But physically and emotionally, it was really tough.

The injections, the procedures, the hospital appointments — it’s a lot. And as a young trans person who was pre-hormones and pre-transition, every interaction with a healthcare provider was a fight. I had to correct people about my name and pronouns constantly, even during ultrasounds.

Walking into pink, hyper-feminine clinics was alienating. I stood out completely. It was challenging in every way — emotionally, physically, socially.

Ironically, that period turned out to be the healthiest I would ever be, before developing a chronic immune condition called Stevens-Johnson Syndrome. It’s usually not chronic, but for me, it became recurring. It nearly killed me.

So, yes — my timing was accidentally perfect. Age was on my side, but my understanding of the emotional and spiritual weight of it all wasn’t. At nineteen, I treated it like a “just in case” decision. Only later did I realise how profound it was.

Honestly, the process sucked — that’s the truth.

Peta:We met recently to talk about the accessibility of your show — to make sure it’s as inclusive as possible for everyone who might come to see it. I arrived with a long list of suggestions, but I was so pleasantly surprised, and honestly grateful, to see that you’d already thought about most of them.

It was clear that you both have such a deep understanding of accessibility and a genuine passion for it. That’s still quite rare, and it meant a lot to see.

Katie:Accessibility is at the forefront of how we make work. For us, it’s not about tacking something on at the end — it’s about embedding it from the very beginning.

I think many of us are tired of seeing accessibility as an afterthought — you know, a single Wednesday matinee with interpreters or a “relaxed performance” added at the last minute. We want people to walk into our space and feel considered right away.

A few ways we’re doing that: we’re offering tactile tours for every single performance, which we’re really excited about. We’re also offering blankets for anyone who feels cold, thanks to your advice, Peta! And we’ve mapped out a clear exit pathway on the floor so that audience members can actually leave the space at any time if they need to.

Ollie:Yeah, because so often shows say “you can leave anytime,” but they don’t actually make that possible. We wanted to make sure there’s a visible and safe exit — a pathway that’s well-lit, not in darkness, so people feel comfortable leaving if they need to.

Katie:Exactly. Our stage manager walks the audience through that route before each show, explaining where they can go.

We’re also incredibly proud that every single audio channel in No Seasons includes built-in audio description. So regardless of which version of the show you choose, you’ll experience a form of audio description — not just if you request it.

I think that raises a really interesting point: accessibility benefits everyone, not just those who “need” it.

We’ve approached the audio description creatively. Some of it is direct narration, and some is embedded through sound — for instance, when Ollie gets into the water, you’ll hear the sound of being underwater. It’s designed to feel immersive, not clinical.

We also introduce our stage manager and support staff to the audience before the show so people know who they can approach if they need anything. The goal is to anticipate needs wherever possible, so people don’t have to ask for help — they can just experience the show.

Working with Fringe has been amazing. Through them, we were able to hire another access consultant, Koran, who is blind. Having that specific perspective has been invaluable.

Ollie:Yeah, and one of the great insights Koran gave us was: “I don’t want to hear another boring description of what someone’s wearing.” He’s right — blind and low-vision audiences have artistic opinions, and they deserve creative, engaging storytelling too.

That really inspired us to make the audio description poetic — something with texture and imagination.

From the very start, we asked ourselves, “Which communities can we serve well with this work?” Because we’re independent artists, we knew we couldn’t make it perfect for everyone. We realised that the Deaf community probably wouldn’t get as much out of this specific show because of its sound-based structure, so we’ve been transparent about that in our advertising.

We want people with different access needs to feel confident giving us feedback — to tell us what worked and what didn’t. That’s how we’ll keep improving.

Katie:For us, No Seasons is also a proof of concept — showing that independent artists can make accessible work. You don’t have to be a big company to do this.

Ollie:Exactly. You just have to be creative, patient, hardworking — and you have to listen.

Katie:And you have to be excited about it.

Ollie:You’ve just got to give a damn.

Peta:For regular listeners of the show, you’ll know that my final question in every episode is the same. Ollie, with your lived experience, I imagine — like me — you’ve been asked some pretty inappropriate questions by strangers. So, if you could wave a magic wand and make one question disappear forever, what’s a question you can’t stand being asked by a stranger?

Ollie:Oh my god, I was reflecting on this when you sent it through because I knew it was coming. I’ve been asked this one so many times: when someone finds out I’m trans, they’ll ask, “Do your parents still love you?”

And I'm like, fuck off, Yes.

Peta:Thank you so much for listening to this episode of The I Can’t Stand Podcast.

If you enjoyed today’s conversation, the best way to support the show is by sharing it with a friend or posting about it on social media. And if you have a moment, leaving a rating or review helps more people find these stories.

You can always send me an email at icantstandpodcast@gmail.com or follow me on Instagram at @petahooke.

I’ll see you next week.

I’d like to respectfully acknowledge the Wurundjeri and Bunurong people of the Kulin Nation, on whose land I record this podcast. I pay my respects to Elders past and present, and to all First Nations people who are part of the disability community.