MARK FISHER is disappointed by a new production of a recent Scottish hit.

PASSING PLACES is one of the funniest Scottish plays of the past decade. Not that you’d know it from this production. Instead of taking us on a rip-roaring ride through the Scottish landscape, director Anna Newell drags us on an are-we-nearly-there-yet hike.

First seen in 1997, Stephen Greenhorn’s “road movie for the stage”  is about two Central Belt lads who, in a drunken moment, steal a surfboard, borrow a Lada and escape north to Thurso in the hope of selling their stolen goods. The Scotland they discover en route challenges their clichéd ideas about their own country. They are not surprised to come across ceilidhs and stunning scenery, but it takes them the course of the play to adjust to the Canadians, Frenchmen, telecottagers and surfers.

Greenhorn creates a vision of a multidimensional nation made up of many identities, not a homogenous whole. But he does this while we’re not looking. The surface impression of Passing Places is a jolly romp full of gags based on the preposterousness of making a getaway across Scotland in a decrepit Russian car with a huge surfboard. Further comic tension is provided by the psychopathic owner of the board heading off in hot pursuit.

At least, that’s how it should be. Newell’s production for Borderline Theatre Company has such a poor sense of forward momentum that most of the jokes fall flat. It turns the play into a rather worthy drama about national identity.

Passing Places should race ahead like the cat-and-mouse chase it is, which means gliding swiftly from scene to scene. But here the transitions are clunky and drawn out, not least because of the soundtrack by Failte, a traditional Scottish band playing unlikely pop hits by Talking Heads and Gary Newman. Although funny in themselves, these interludes add to the production’s stop-start rhythm, putting undue pressure on the actors to get back up to speed.

A performance in Motherwell, where the play’s journey begins, should have struck a riotous chord with the audience. But despite endearing central performances from Kevin Lennon and Jim Webster, and a suitably scary one from Sean Hay as the pursuing hard man, the production never gets beyond second gear. If you hadn’t seen John Tiffany’s original production for the Traverse, you’d wonder what the fuss was about.

Passing Places can be seen at Eden Court Theatre, Inverness, on Tuesday 1 and Wednesday 2 March 2005.

© Mark Fisher, 2005