A graphic production by an up-and-coming American playwright has already seen one Australian faint during its most "intense" scene during the local premiere in Sydney. 

The play, Dry Land, from US playwright Ruby Rae Spiegel, follows two high school swim-team mates who bond after one of the girls reveals she wants to end her unwanted pregnancy.

Dry Land actors Sarah Meacham​ and Patricia Pemberton had just finished acting out the crucial scene involving fake blood when a man in the audience briefly lost consciousness. 

The sequence, which shows one of the characters bleeding during the graphic DIY abortion, also drew some criticism during the show's US run.

A spokeswoman for King's Cross Theatre confirmed Tuesday night's show was stopped for four minutes while a gentleman in the audience received first aid. 

"He made a quick recovery and enjoyed a drink with the cast and crew on the rooftop after the performance," the spokeswoman said. "It's important to focus on what the play is really about – the challenges of young women in a world where they may not feel comfortable to speak freely about difficult and/or life-changing experiences and decisions."

One audience member, meanwhile, said the cast and crew handled the situation like "pros". 

One of the actresses involved in the scene, Pemberton, admitted it would have been a very "intense" and "emotional" time for the audience. 

"Both Sarah [Meacham] and I weren't 100 per cent sure what happened because we were so involved in the circumstances of the play," she said. "So we just stayed with each other and were lucky we were in an embrace. We stayed in the moment – lucky it was quite quick." 

However, the 23-year-old actress said the play wasn't designed to "shock" audiences. Instead, she said the scene was about staying true to real-life situations.  

"That, in a way, speaks volumes," she said. 

The play's official program – which recommends the production for audiences aged 16 years and older – cites "graphic and confronting content" and features a trigger warning for "sexual content".  

Spiegel had previously shrugged off reports of widespread fainting among US audiences as "exaggerations".

"One person fainted during my play and there was all this press about it, but it was just that she was feeling sick that day," she told Fairfax Media last month.

"The fact that people are shocked says a lot about how squeamish we are with women's bodies."

The production is the latest to spark an extreme reaction from local theatre audiences.

Earlier this year, a touring production of George Orwell's 1984 left some theatregoers fainting and vomiting over an extended torture scene and its jarring soundtrack and strobe light effects. 

Dry Land continues its Australian run at Sydney's Kings Cross Theatre until August 19.