Tracing the coming of age of a young woman in Stockport, south-east of Manchester (British playwright Simon Stephens’ hometown), Port plays like a condensed version of Michael Apted’s 7 Up series.

The play’s focus is Racheal, and we follow her from about age 11 in 1988 to adulthood in 2002. Our first encounter finds her bunkered down in a car with her mother and five-year-old brother, Billy. It’s the middle of the night, and they’re watching their flat from a safe distance. Dad is having one of his rage episodes.

Grace Stamnas in Port. Photo © Philip Erbacher

From there, an ordinary life in an economically depressed town unfolds. Racheal grows up in a single-parent household after her mother skips town. She hangs out with her Stockport peers, discovering love and disappointment. She falls for a nice-seeming co-worker but marries a bad boy with control and jealousy issues. Meanwhile, her brother Billy spends much of his young life in prison for theft.

Stephens (The Curious Incident of the Dog at Night Time and, in 2023, the adaptor of Chekhov’s Vanya...