In the tradition of medical ethics plays such as Brian Clark’s Whose Life Is It Anyway? and, more recently, Margaret Edson’s Wit, comes emerging Sydney writer Grace Malouf’s drama about a young man’s struggle to convince his parents and the medical profession that he requires radical surgery to align his body with his self-image.

Nineteen-year-old Alexei (Josh Merten) is a promising competitive swimmer whose recent performances have been lacklustre, to say the least. His father, Rob (Richard Hilliar), a retired Olympic gold medallist himself, insists it is simply an attitude problem and believes Alexei will come good with enough pressure.

His mother, Melissa (Kate Bookallil), a surgeon, suspects something more is at play. Alexei, meanwhile, has become deeply engaged in online debate surrounding an American transgender swimmer and whether she should be allowed to compete in women’s competition.

By now, we all think we know where this is heading, right? Think again. Malouf has a surprise in store.

First, Do No Harm: Kate Bookalil and Josh Merten. Photo © Laura Elaine

First, Do No Harm isn’t a perfect play. It is dramatically crowded, heavy on exposition, and its attempts to stage opposing viewpoints – such as a radio interview between Melissa and her rival for a senior medical leadership role – can feel clumsy and overly didactic.

But Malouf certainly knows how to keep an audience engaged. I wasn’t entirely convinced by her depiction of a young man experiencing an unusual form of dysmorphia, nor by every aspect of the family drama surrounding him. Even so, after the performance it seemed as though virtually everyone in the audience was animatedly discussing the contested ground the play occupies: bodily autonomy and an individual’s right to pursue the body they believe they need, weighed against a medical practitioner’s right to refuse treatment.

The KXT traverse configuration is an ideal setting for a play built on argument. With the audience facing one another across the action, we’re encouraged to become participants as much as observers, weighing competing claims as the drama unfolds. 

First, Do No Harm: Kate Bookalil and Richard Hilliar. Photo © Laura Elaine

All the performers acquit themselves well. Josh Merten is compelling as the anguished Alexei, finding both vulnerability and determination in a character whose predicament is anything but conventional. As his seemingly incompatible parents, Richard Hilliar and Kate Bookallil balance frustration, love and fear with convincing complexity. Shan-Ree Tan brings swaggering confidence to the self-proclaimed orthopaedic surgery superstar Ian before revealing unexpected depths as an unlikely advocate for Alexei’s cause.

Malouf doesn’t pretend to have the answers, and that’s probably her play’s greatest strength. While First, Do No Harm occasionally sacrifices dramatic elegance in its determination to canvass every side of the argument, it does succeed in doing something increasingly rare: sending an audience out of the theatre engaged and thinking.

First, Do No Harm plays at KXT on Broadway, Sydney until 4 July.