“Passing Places” by Stephen Greenhorn
Themes
 Self-discovery – trying to find your place in the world
 Poverty, violence, unemployment and the lack of opportunity for young
people in some towns in Scotland.
 Scotland and Scottish society.
 Relationships – family and friends.
All these themes are explored through the setting and the characters. See key
quotes below for more information on these themes.
Setting
A large part of Scotland is covered, from Motherwell to Thurso via Skye, Ullapool
and Tongue. An unusually large number of locations are specified, indoors and
outdoors, in a car, etc. The characters sometimes provide a description of the
scene, either from what they are seeing in front of them or from the guide book and
map. These descriptions of places, comments on historical incidents an d stories
about the past all contribute to a sense of Scotland’s place in the world –
geographically and historically.
Relevance to Scottish society
The play is all about Scotland and Scottish society. Alex and Brian are, to a certain
degree, products of the town they have been brought up in. This is illustrated
clearly in the scene where Alex can’t say ‘beautiful’ because he has been brought
up in an environment without beauty. However as a different and beautiful
Scotland is revealed to him he begins to change.
Through setting the play in Scotland the playwright explores a number of issues
relevant to Scottish society:
– The contrast of beauty in the landscape and ugliness in the towns.
– The poverty of many young people and the lack of employment..
– Violence and crime.
o The evils of society are represented by the violence: Alex’s mugging,
Binks’s ferocity and the destruction of the car. Even Alex is part of this
culture at first, smashing the shop window and stealing the surf-board
– Ambition, inventiveness and poetry.
– The isolation of young people.
– New social groupings.
– Multi-ethnicity.
o Brian and Alex are surprised by the diversity of cultures within
Scotland. They begin to realise that Scotland can offer far more than
the poverty and lack of opportunity that they grew up with in Motherwel
Key quotes for setting (the setting also explores themes of poverty, unemployment
and lack of opportunity for young people in some parts of Sco tland)
1) “BRIAN: Traditionally… heavy industry… predominantly steel…
ALEX: And now…
BRIAN shrugs.”
Context – This is near the start of the play when Alex and Brian are discussing their
home town, Motherwell.
Analysis - It shows the lack of opportunity for the boys. All the traditional jobs have
gone. The stage direction “BRIAN shrugs” effectively shows that there is now no
meaningful employment for the boys in Motherwell.
2) “ALEX. Look at this place. Nothing but shoe shops and burger bars… IT DOES
MY HEAD IN!” (scene 7)
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“Passing Places” by Stephen Greenhorn
Context – near the start of the play when the boys are still stuck in Motherwell.
Analysis – This shows the feeling of disenchantment that Alex has with his life and
with his home-town, Motherwell. The setting is important here as it shows the lack
of opportunity the boys have. Motherwell is characterized by poverty and violence.
The poverty can be seen in the run-down town centre. The violence is portrayed
through the character of Binks. They need to leave Motherwell to discover that there
can be much more to life.
3) “ALEX. I can’t. I can think it but I can’t say it. It’s just… it’s not part of my
language, alright?” (scene 29)
Context – Alex and the others are talking about the Scottish landscape and Alex
admits he can’t say the word ‘beautiful’.
Analysis – This shows us that Alex has experienced very little beauty in his life up
until now. As Brian later says their hometown, Motherwell, has (4)“seventeen words
for dogshit”, but no word for beauty. It is clear that Alex had to leave his hometown
to discover that the world can be a place of beauty and opportunity. He is slowly
beginning to realise that Scotland is a diverse place with beautiful landscapes and
interesting people. In the next scene he wants to use the word “beautiful” to
describe Mirren but he still can’t say it. However it is clear tha t his growing
relationship with Mirren is an important part of his ability to change and grow as a
character.
5) “IONA. What are you looking for?
ALEX. Just… somewhere that doesn’t make me feel like an outsider.
IONA. Or someone.” (scene 35)
Context - Alex is talking to Iona outside the ceilidh.
Analysis - Alex finally admits that he is searching for something. He is no longer just
running away from Binks. His journey through the Scottish landscape is one of self discovery, a realisation that there is more to life than Motherwell.
6) “ALEX. It’s… beautiful.” (scene 54)
Context – Alex is describing Mo surfing the perfect wave.
Analysis – Alex is finally able to use the “beautiful”. It shows that he has come a
long way, both physically and metaphorically, from Motherwell. He is beginning to
see that the world can have beauty and opportunity for him.
7) “MIRREN. What are you thinking?
ALEX. I’m not. I’m not thinking at all. I’m just letting it happen.” (scene 54)
Context – This is the end of the play when Alex and Mirren have decided to
continue their journey of discovery together.
Analysis – We see here that Alex has changed a lot from the cynical, aggressive
and anxious person he was in Motherwell. The change of setting and travelling
through Scotland to Thurso has changed Alex. He realises that life can be a
journey of discovery and he is beginning to build a meaningful relationship with
Mirren
Comedy, wit and humour
• This is a predominantly comic play.
• Much of the comedy lies in the bantering, cynical views expressed by the
characters. Often this hides an emotion that they can’t express in any other way.
• The play offers numerous types of comedy.
– Puns (the ladder/Lada confusion); the unexpected (‘he’s my father’);
– Stating a familiar truth wittily (‘The library! Hang out for pensioners who can’t
pay their gas bills.’);
– Twisting a familiar idea (‘wearing flowery shirts, chasing birds in grass skirts,
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“Passing Places” by Stephen Greenhorn
–
–
–
–
drinking Buckie out of half-coconuts’);
A ludicrous situation (Alex hands a baseball bat to a youth who wants to
assault him);
Bizarre images (a man carrying a surf board while riding a motor -cycle);
Mad logic (Binks won’t pay Alex the wages due to him because they were in
the stolen till);
Insults (‘Saw you dancing with Brian … Any broken toes?’).
Language
• The language is basically realistic – that of contemporary young people.
• Most have the dialect of the western Central Belt in Scotland.
• The swearing is used for both realism and for comic effect.
• Stephen Greenhorn gives his characters an awareness of language and its
significance: Alex can’t say ‘beautiful’ at first, but he can say ‘chudovyj’ because he
doesn’t know that it means ‘beautiful’.
Structure of the play
• The play progresses chronologically. It represents a rite of pa ssage for several of
the characters, particularly Alex, Brian and Mirren.
• There are fifty-four Scenes, giving the effect of a cinematic structure. This
technique pushes the storyline on quickly. It builds up a sense of tension.
• There is a dramatic tension, too, created by the inter-cutting between the Binks
scenes and the others. Binks is in constant pursuit, getting more and more agitated.
The other characters have frequent breaks, voluntary or otherwise and become less
and less agitated.
Characters
Alex
Of all the characters Alex develops most during the play. At first he is aggressive,
argumentative and tough. He is also naïve and inclined to get things wrong. He has
something of the air of a lost soul, not sure what he wants out of life. He doesn’t
even seem to be aware that there is anything more to be got out of life. He regards
Brian’s pursuit of knowledge as suspect and strange.
On the flight he is motivated primarily by terror, racing desperately away, without
taking time to plan logically or identify the best course of action. He depends on
Brian’s guidance. He finds Mirren irritating because she is surer of herself than he
is and because she is cleverer than he is.
Gradually, under the influence of Mirren and from the experiences of the jour ney, he
learns to relax and to recognise that at least there is a better life to be found,
somewhere. In the end he has achieved some kind of tranquility and the beginnings
of a desire to discover more.
Quotes for Alex with some analysis:
1) “ALEX. Look at this place. Nothing but shoe shops and burger bars… IT DOES
MY HEAD IN!” (scene 7)
Context – near the start of the play when the boys are still stuck in Motherwell.
Analysis – This shows the feeling of disenchantment that Alex has with his life and
with his home-town, Motherwell. The setting is important here as it shows the lack
of opportunity the boys have. They need to leave Motherwell to discover that there
can be much more to life.
2) “ALEX. I just need to go away for a while. Trust me.
MUM. About as far as I could throw you.” (scene 8)
Context – Alex wakes up the morning after stealing the surfboard and realizes he
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“Passing Places” by Stephen Greenhorn
has to leave to escape the violent Binks.
Analysis – This clearly shows that Alex has a poor relationship with his mum. It
lacks the basic trust that should exist between family members. This is another
indication of the emptiness of Alex’s life in Motherwell. The only real relationship he
has is with his friend Brian.
3) “MIRREN. They’re passing places. Not stopping places. You shou ldn’t have to
stop. Just slow down a bit… You need to learn to adjust.” (scene 26)
Context – Mirren, a fellow traveler they meet on their journey, is giving advice to
Alex about his driving.
Analysis – Although Mirren is giving Brian advice on driving she is really talking
about his approach to life. He has to learn to slow down and adjust and then he will
realize that there is more to life than the violence and poverty of Motherwell. Mirren,
and the journey through Scotland, help Alex to make this realizat ion. Later on, in
scene 42, this driving metaphor is continued when Mirren says:
“MIRREN. You’re getting better you know.
ALEX. At what?
MIRREN. Passing places.”
At this stage Alex is more relaxed and more open to the possibilities that the
journey can bring
4) “ALEX. I can’t. I can think it but I can’t say it. It’s just… it’s not part of my
language, alright?” (scene 29)
Context – Alex and the others are talking about the Scottish landscape and Alex
admits he can’t say the word ‘beautiful’.
Analysis – This shows us that Alex has experienced very little beauty in his life up
until now. As Brian later says their hometown, Motherwell, has “Seventeen words
for dogshit”, but no word for beauty. It is clear that Alex had to leave his hometown
to discover that the world can be a place of beauty and opportunity. In the next
scene he wants to use the word “beautiful” to describe Mirren but he still can’t say
it. However it is clear that his growing relationship with Mirren is an important part
of his ability to change and grow as a character.
5) “IONA. What are you looking for?
ALEX. Just… somewhere that doesn’t make me feel like an outsider.
IONA. Or someone.” (scene 35)
Context - Alex is talking to Iona outside the ceilidh.
Analysis. Alex finally admits that he is searching for something. He is no longer just
running away from Binks. His journey is one of self -discovery, a realization that
there is more to life than Motherwell.
6) “SHAPER. One potentially perfect moment where everything in the universe is
suddenly aligned… That’s the wave we’re all looking for.” (scene 50)
Context – The Shaper is talking to the boys about why people come to Thurso to
surf.
Analysis - Although the Shaper is talking about surfing the “wave” is a metaphor for
the meaning and beauty that we are all looking for in our lives. This is what both
Alex and Brian are looking for on their journey.
7) “ALEX. It’s… beautiful.” (scene 54)
Context – Alex is describing Mo surfing the perfect wave.
Analysis – Alex is finally able to use the “beautiful”. It shows that he has come a
long way, both physically and metaphorically, from Motherwell. He is beginning to
see that the world can have beauty and opportunity for him.
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“Passing Places” by Stephen Greenhorn
8) “MIRREN. What are you thinking?
ALEX. I’m not. I’m not thinking at all. I’m just letting it happen.” (scene 54)
Context – This is the end of the play when Alex and Mirren have decided to
continue their journey of discovery together.
Analysis – We see here that Alex has changed a lot from the cynical, aggressive
and anxious person he was in Motherwell. He realizes that life can be a journey of
discovery and he is beginning to build a meaningful relationship with Mirren .
Brian
Brian is more sensible than Alex, more thoughtful and more open to self improvement. He is aware that there is another world outside Motherwell and he
would quite like to be part of it. He is less hostile than Alex to the new people they
meet and more open to their influences. He is proud of the little bits of knowledge
he has picked up in the library .He nurses a great sense of loss. The computer
program which he wrote gave him something to work towards, to believe in, to
regard as his own creation. It was all destroyed in a few seconds, not by malice, not
by accident but by ignorance. This has affected him deeply and he seems to link it
with the death of his mum. His losses are enough to make him attempt suicide.
Meeting Iona and particularly Frank the Shaper makes him realise that there are
other people who are basically just like him. However, they have developed not just
a computer program but a whole way of life that gives them satisfaction. He wants
to do the same. (See relationships section for some key quotes about Brian.)
Mirren
Mirren seems self-assured and sensible. She shows no emotion when Diesel
arranges for her to leave. Yet she is still looking for something. She is not ready to
settle down or to stop her search. She has a quick wit and can tease Alex without
him even being aware of it. She doesn’t reveal any particular liking for him but she
does suggest going to Thurso with him and Brian. She accepts Alex’s suggestion
that he should accompany her to Orkney but without indicating how she feels about
it. She is too laid-back to comment. She may be too laid-back even to feel, of
course?
Her relationship with her father is uneasy. The scene at Tom’s house is the only
time she shows any emotion at all, irritated by his questions and his concern for
her. Their relationship is so bad that she doesn’t want to stay for long: ‘Things tend
to get ugly after a while.’ She has good insight, able to tell Alex truths about himself
that he wasn’t aware of.
Iona
She is another of the cool, laid-back characters that people this play, in strong
contrast with Alex and Brian. She is multi-talented, with a background in work offshore, an ability to write and a talent for singing. She has had the courage to give
up her well-paid job in order to settle in Skye and do what she wants to do. She is
not thrown by anything. As Mirren says, ‘She doesn’t expect anything’, and so she
calmly accepts whatever happens along.
Binks
Binks is mad. He has psychopathic tendencies. He thinks he can hold conversations
with his brother who died at birth. He has a gun and eventually uses it, having
worked his way up through verbal abuse, threatening with a knife and threatening
with a Zippo. He is also easily taken in and easily put off. There is a naivety about
him that makes him vulnerable to the single-mindedness of an old lollipop lady and
to the intelligence of Frank. However, where his opponent is weaker than he is (a
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“Passing Places” by Stephen Greenhorn
child, a woman, a helpless drunk), he is ruthless.
Binks’s single-minded stupidity reveals the dangers and weaknesses inherent in a
society based on greed and selfishness.
Satire – Binks is made a figure of ridicule, even though he represents a genuine evil
in society.
Relationships
There are two key relationships in the play:
 Alex and Brian
 Alex and Mirren
Alex and Brian are both friends from Motherwell. At the start of the play they do n’t
really have any other meaningful relationships. Brian shows that he is a true friend
by sticking by Alex when he gets into trouble with Binks.
“ALEX. I just need to go away for a while. Trust me.
MUM. About as far as I could throw you.” (scene 8)
Context – Alex wakes up the morning after stealing the surfboard and realizes he
has to leave to escape the violent Binks.
Analysis – This clearly shows that Alex has a poor relationship with his mum. It
lacks the basic trust that should exist between family members. This is another
indication of the emptiness of Alex’s life in Motherwell. The only real relationship he
has is with his friend Brian.
Brian also has no meaningful family relationships. His mum is dead, his brother is in
the army and his dad is an alcoholic:
“BRIAN. George joined the army. My dad hit the bottle… I wondered how bad it
could get before it would all stop.”
This helps to explain why Brian tries to commit suicide later in the play. He feels
completely isolated and does not even realise that Alex cares for him and relies on
him. He is surprised at Alex’s reaction to his suicide attempt:
“BRIAN. I didn’t realise you were going to get so worked up about it.”
The fact that Alex got “so worked up” shows the strength of feeling that he has for
Brian.
The suicide attempt is a turning point for Brian as he realizes he can’t go back to
Motherwell. At first this upsets Alex as he can’t imagine being without his friend:
“ALEX. And what am I supposed to do.”
Alex can’t go back to Motherwell without Brian as their friendship was the only good
thing he had there. So Brian’s decision is important for Alex too. It makes him
realise that he has to find his own place in the world.
By the end of the play both boys remain friends but are going in different directions
on their journey of self-discovery.
Alex and Mirren - Both Mirren and Alex are searching for their place in the world.
At first Alex is cold and unfriendly but as the play develops so does their
relationship. See key quotes under Alex to see the importance of his relationship
with Mirren in helping him to relax and open up to opportunities.
Key Scene
The ceilidh scene is a key scene because Alex first admits that he is looking for
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“Passing Places” by Stephen Greenhorn
something rather than just running away. The initial reason for leaving Motherwell
was to escape the psychopathic Binks after Alex had stolen his surfboard. However
the escape soon turns into a journey of discovery with this scene being the one
where Alex begins to open up to the people around him.
Before this scene Alex is an angry and aggressive young man; product of his
hometown Motherwell:
“ALEX. Look at this place. Nothing but shoe shops and burger bars… IT DOES MY
HEAD IN!” (scene 7)
Context – near the start of the play when the boys are still stuc k in Motherwell.
Analysis – This shows the feeling of disenchantment that Alex has with his life and
with his home-town, Motherwell. The setting is important here as it shows the lack
of opportunity the boys have. They need to leave Motherwell to discover that there
can be much more to life.
As the boys travel through Scotland the boys encounter a different world to
Motherwell however it is not until the ceilidh scene that we see the effect this is
having on Alex. He is speaking to Iona after the ceilidh:
“IONA. You think we should be like a big Braveheart theme park? Pickled in
tradition? C’mon Alex. Loosen up. You can have it all.
ALEX. How?
IONA. Choose your influences…”
Alex is beginning to realise that there is much more to Scotland than the pover ty
and violence of Motherwell or the Braveheart image of Scotland. Iona tells him he
can “choose his influences” or in other words he can be whatever he wants to be.
This is an important step on his journey from an aggressive, tough Motherwell boy
to someone open to new places and people. Later in this scene Iona asks Alex:
“IONA. What are you looking for?
ALEX. Just… somewhere that doesn’t make me feel like an outsider.
IONA. Or someone.” (scene 35)
Alex finally admits that he is searching for something. He is no longer just running
away from Binks. His journey is one of self -discovery, a realization that there is
more to life than Motherwell.
It is significant that Alex is talking to Iona in this scene. She is one of the characters
who has found her place in the world. She is a geologist fascinated with the rocks
on her home on the Isle of Skye. She is an example of the type of person Alex can
become; someone who has found meaning in life. One way that Alex might find
meaning is through his relationship with Mirren. The two become closer in this
scene and Iona leaves them together dancing:
“ALEX. You’re pretty good.
MIRREN. I used to go to classes… You’re not too bad… once you relax.”
This shows Alex and Mirren becoming closer which is important as by the end of the
play they both agree to continue their journey together.
After this scene Alex seems more relaxed and more open to the changes that come
through his journey. His journey of discovery continues until the end of the play
when he realizes he will not return to Motherwell.
“MIRREN. What are you thinking?
ALEX. I’m not. I’m not thinking at all. I’m just letting it happen.” (scene 54)
We see here that Alex has changed a lot from the cynical, aggressive and anxious
person he was in Motherwell. He realises that life can be a journey of discovery and
he is beginning to build a meaningful relationship with Mirren.
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