REVIEW: First Do No Harm
- Michael DiGuglielmo (they/them)
- Jul 10
- 3 min read
Modern theatre is often anything but predictable. Getting a show on the stage is often gruelling, and if you’re a director or a writer with a story you want to see come alive, you’re not going to waste your shot on something that doesn’t get people talking. It’s one thing for a show to be unpredictable, but it’s another for a show to be in the league of Grace Malouf’s First Do No Harm, where every scene twists and moves in a direction I absolutely could not see coming - inspiring, engaging, and confronting all a single, beautiful motion.
The word that best summarises this show is ‘kaleidoscopic’. A scene plays out and the actors remain the same, but they change and bring out these new, powerful, vivid performances at the slightest shift in context, or the merest suggestion at whatever baggage they’re carrying beneath the surface.
Let’s try to move past my vague outlines of acclaim and onto something more concrete. For starters - the actors. Good god. Melissa Annous (Kate Bookallil) and Robert Robertson (Richard Hilliar) absolutely shine as partners trying to navigate a strange, daunting new world they’ve been thrust into by a shocking announcement from their son. They’re like tennis players batting multiple different balls to each other over the net, each of them trading these guttural feelings of fear, disappointment, rage, and confusion. Are these feelings directed towards each other? Their child? Themselves? Yes. Yes to all of that. Both these actors begin their performance in a more subdued manner, put upon by all the stresses of work and parenting (though Melissa is far more concerned with the former, and Robbo the latter), but that only makes the explosive heights they reach in the second half of the show that much more explosive.
Do these parents-at-odds handle the situation with their child well? You’ll have to watch the show to find out… but the answer is no. Kind of. Maybe they do? I’m still chewing on this one, it’s one of the many things this show has left me thinking about.
Their child, Alexei (played by Josh Merten), is conversely explosive throughout, dealing with these intense, gut-wrenching feelings about their self image that no one close to them seems to understand. Merten does an incredible job playing this barely-adult going through something utterly torturous. His acting is emotional and physical in such a startling way, but never drifts into dangerous over-acting territory. Rounding out these three hugely emotional performances is Shan-Ree Tan, who plays his character in equal parts cocky and clinical, confident in a more level-headed portrayal that is foundational to the story, and all the events that unfold within it. The second half of this show in particular has some utterly jaw-dropping depictions of pain, rage, and despair that will truly unsettle you.
The set design is very economic. Utilitarian chairs, tables and benches give perfect framing for the actors to shine without drawing much attention, and this also applies to the lighting and sound design. In particular I’m not sure there was a moment in the first half of the show where these things really stood out to me, but in the second half there’s at least one example I can think of where set design, lighting, and sound design are all used in an ingenious way.
Make the trip out to KXT - it’s an incredible and hugely confronting title, contributed to by some truly rising stars in Sydney Theatre.
