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Passing Places
The successful new comedy by a well-known Scottish playwright.
- GenresPlays
96 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 1999
1 person is currently reading
42 people want to read
About the author
Stephen Greenhorn
9 booksStephen Greenhorn is a Scottish playwright and screenwriter. He is the creator of the BBC Scotland soap opera River City.
Greenhorn’s plays have been produced by a wide variety of theatre companies across the UK as well as on BBC Radio and several have been published.
Original or adapted works for the stage include: The Salt Wound (1994), Dissent (1998), and Gilt (2003) for 7:84 theatre group; Passing Places (1997) and The Ballad of Crazy Paolo (2001) for the Traverse Theatre; Sleeping Around (1998) with Abi Morgan, Mark Ravenhill and Hilary Fannin for Paines Plough touring theatre and King Matt (2001) for TAG Theatre Company.
Passing Places won the author a nomination for Scottish Writer of the Year in 1998 and has since been translated many times and produced worldwide.
In 2007 he created Sunshine on Leith for Dundee Rep – a musical featuring the songs of The Proclaimers. The show won the TMA Award for Best Musical that year and has toured several times since. A film version was released in 2013. Greenhorn adapted it for the big screen. The film was shot in Glasgow and Edinburgh in late 2012 starring Peter Mullan and Jane Horrocks and was directed by Dexter Fletcher.
Greenhorn’s plays have been produced by a wide variety of theatre companies across the UK as well as on BBC Radio and several have been published.
Original or adapted works for the stage include: The Salt Wound (1994), Dissent (1998), and Gilt (2003) for 7:84 theatre group; Passing Places (1997) and The Ballad of Crazy Paolo (2001) for the Traverse Theatre; Sleeping Around (1998) with Abi Morgan, Mark Ravenhill and Hilary Fannin for Paines Plough touring theatre and King Matt (2001) for TAG Theatre Company.
Passing Places won the author a nomination for Scottish Writer of the Year in 1998 and has since been translated many times and produced worldwide.
In 2007 he created Sunshine on Leith for Dundee Rep – a musical featuring the songs of The Proclaimers. The show won the TMA Award for Best Musical that year and has toured several times since. A film version was released in 2013. Greenhorn adapted it for the big screen. The film was shot in Glasgow and Edinburgh in late 2012 starring Peter Mullan and Jane Horrocks and was directed by Dexter Fletcher.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
February 15, 2025
2 stars may be harsh, but I have had to watch and follow the script of this show 5 times, and I am sick of it.
The story barely makes sense. Why would they not give the surfboard back after discovering they'd stolen it in their drunk state? Why would they decide to drive to Thurso to sell it? The interactions with other characters would not happen in reality, although I know it is set in the past when people spoke to each other.
I wonder if I'd have enjoyed it more to just have read it, visualising in my own brain, and not having watched it performed to someone else's direction...
The story barely makes sense. Why would they not give the surfboard back after discovering they'd stolen it in their drunk state? Why would they decide to drive to Thurso to sell it? The interactions with other characters would not happen in reality, although I know it is set in the past when people spoke to each other.
I wonder if I'd have enjoyed it more to just have read it, visualising in my own brain, and not having watched it performed to someone else's direction...
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 12, 2025
And so the time has come once again... to say goodbye to my Higher Drama scripted book collection!
What a journey I have been on in the first half of this year, rediscovering classics I forgot I had but it has given me a chance to broaden my literary horizons - challenge my perspectives on a multitude of fronts - the trip I wouldn't have missed for the world.
What a script to finish on... The first script I was introduced to in Drama.
Now speaking of journey's - coincidentally this is what the story centers around when Alex and Brian our two protagonists decide on one fateful night to steal a surfboard from Binks after Alex is fired.
Waking up the next morning and dealing with the consequences of his actions, Alex and Brian decide rather than let fate intervene to go on the run in a broken down Lada with the stolen surfboard and head to Thurso [The Long Way Round!].
But little do they know - Binks is on their trail.
The journey is told through a plethora of colourful characters that Alex, Brian and Binks encounter through fifty scenes of action packed and comedic scenes.
An absolute must read - I could not put this down when reading it fully for the first time and accounts for the short time I spent reading it.
This is sure to be one for the ages - and cannot wait to call it a classic in the future!
What a journey I have been on in the first half of this year, rediscovering classics I forgot I had but it has given me a chance to broaden my literary horizons - challenge my perspectives on a multitude of fronts - the trip I wouldn't have missed for the world.
What a script to finish on... The first script I was introduced to in Drama.
Now speaking of journey's - coincidentally this is what the story centers around when Alex and Brian our two protagonists decide on one fateful night to steal a surfboard from Binks after Alex is fired.
Waking up the next morning and dealing with the consequences of his actions, Alex and Brian decide rather than let fate intervene to go on the run in a broken down Lada with the stolen surfboard and head to Thurso [The Long Way Round!].
But little do they know - Binks is on their trail.
The journey is told through a plethora of colourful characters that Alex, Brian and Binks encounter through fifty scenes of action packed and comedic scenes.
An absolute must read - I could not put this down when reading it fully for the first time and accounts for the short time I spent reading it.
This is sure to be one for the ages - and cannot wait to call it a classic in the future!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 30, 2022
Forgot how funny this play is!
May 5, 2007
A Scottish "Road Movie for the Stage"
I read this when I was in Scotland and loved it. I wish I had been able to see it produced while I was there.
Someday, I want to go back to Scotland and follow this route...Anyone want to come?
I read this when I was in Scotland and loved it. I wish I had been able to see it produced while I was there.
Someday, I want to go back to Scotland and follow this route...Anyone want to come?
July 28, 2011
Hum, my recollection is that this play has many good parts and some rather weird passages. See it, read it, and enjoy it.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews