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Theatre Review: Passing Places

Joy Watters reviews 'a production full of life that never flags.'

With brilliant timing, Stephen Greenhorn’s 1997 road movie for the stage joins the Scottish season at Pitlochry. With its take on Scotland from grim underbelly to breathtaking countryside and the nature of its people, it provides comic and truthful food for thought in the run-up to the independence referendum.

It tells the tale of Motherwell lads Alex and Brian, driven out of town by evil gangster Binks and taking to the road in a clapped out Lada. They head as far north as they can on a voyage of discovery about themselves and their country.

Richard Baron’s production perfectly captures the changing moods, zipping through the episodic structure with never a dull moment. Designer Adrian Rees’ brilliant set comprises a map of Scotland, which sits atop all the action with the supporting structure neatly conveying the changing landscape from urban emptiness to peaceful forest.

Derek McGhie plays a blinder as Alex, working in a Motherwell sports shop for madman Binks. Unfairly sacked, he takes, as an act of revenge, Binks’ beloved surfboard. An unlikely item for the shop as Motherwell isn’t ‘the Bondi Beach of Lanarkshire.’ Alex is apparently a tough nut, conditioned by the underbelly of crime and deprivation he inhabits. As he hits the road, the outer shell begins to crack and he sees what life also has to offer and what he has to offer it. As his travelling companion, Brian, Keith McLeish perfectly captures the softer nature of his character with the pair bouncing off each other on their journey of discovery.

They meet a host of people on their journey to Thurso, both indigenous and foreigners drawn to Scotland’s charm. New relationships form and they discard their map, realising, `you have to decide your own destination and journey.’ Binks is hot on their trail throughout, a bonkers baddie who hears the voice of his dead brother; Alan Steele brilliantly conveys the hilarious menace of the madman. The ensemble takes on the host of characters that people the route north. Greg Powrie, armed with a selection of wigs, roams the globe with relish for each individual.

It’s a production full of life that never flags, relevant today as it ever was.

Performs in repertoire at Pitlochry Festival Theatre until October 17.

Tags: theatre

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