Venue: KXT on Broadway (Ultimo NSW), Sep 24 – Oct 4, 2025
Playwright: Simon Stephens
Director: Nigel Turner-Carroll
Cast: Kyle Barrett, James Collins, Rachel Crossan, Owen Hasluck, Benjamin Louttit, Finn Middleton, Megan O’Connell, Grace Stamnas
Images by Phil Erbacher
Theatre review
Racheal has spent much of her life in Stockport, a largely working-class town in the north-west of England. The hardships she endures are considerable, yet we perceive them as ordinary, knowing that life is never a bed of roses, especially for those on society’s lower rungs. In his 2002 play Port, Simon Stephens shows a keen ear for the rhythms of everyday conversation, but the tale he tells is ultimately one of mediocrity, a portrait of existence so ordinary that it struggles to sustain our deeper interest.
Fortunately, director Nigel Turner-Carroll brings considerable intensity to the drama, encouraging us to invest in the possibility of uncovering greater depths within the narrative. That hope, however, proves unfounded, as we gradually realise there is little of real substance in Racheal’s story.
The production at least looks assured: Soham Apte’s simple set and Benedict Janeczko-Taylor’s plain costumes provide clear visual cues to anchor us in time and place, while Travis Kecek’s lighting is finely judged, calibrating shades of sentimentality to reflect shifting emotional states. Cameron Smith’s sound design, too, deserves praise for its thorough evocation of the environments through which Racheal moves across the years.
Grace Stamnas takes on the role of Racheal with striking focus and confidence, lending the production a self-assurance that propels its brisk momentum. The ensemble is uniformly strong, each character rendered with a distinct and convincing presence. Together, the cast infuse the stage with colour and vitality, ensuring that the performance feels both engaging and worthwhile.
Like many of us, Rachael likely believes her hardships to be uniquely cruel, when in truth they are symptoms of broader social design. We imagine our fates as personal, yet so much of what we endure stems from the structures that govern collective life. The play never makes explicit the injustices Rachael faces as a working-class woman, nor how the wealthy preserve their dominance by hoarding resources. Their prosperity endures across generations—while the rest are kept busy mistaking survival for a life.
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