Simon Stephens’ drama, set over 13 years is a celebration of the human spirit.

Stockport, 1988. It’s midnight. Rachel, 11, and Billy, six, wait in the car in agitated excitement. Their mother is at her wits’ end with all their chatter and fighting and dreams of Disneyland. She is about to leave them for good. Their father, drunk in the flat above, has locked the door. It’s a pivotal moment, the beginning of a 13-year odyssey for two kids, largely abandoned and growing up in the deprived suburban shadows of Manchester, a city that felt itself to be the most exciting in the world.

A richly colourful portrait of a town with the everyday writ large, Port is a celebration of the human spirit as Rachel, through sheer courage and despite an economic and political climate that pushes her into the very margins, looks to the future and opts for love and life and for something better.

Over the last year or two Stephens has been one of the most performed playwrights on the London stage, with productions including Morning, Three Kingdoms (both Lyric Hammersmith), The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time (National Theatre), A Doll’s House and I Am The Wind (Young Vic) entertaining audiences in the capital.

Port is suitable for theatergoers aged 15 and older.