This underwhelming crime caper centres around Julie and Dave, a couple involved in the 1983 Brink’s-Mat robbery who are trying to sell off their share of looted gold bars to pay for their daughter’s wedding and avoid a member of the old gang who may be out to kill them.
The main problem is with the leaden writing, which burdens the cast with exposition-laden dialogue getting the audience up to speed with the plot and characters, as well as weak comedy that relies too heavily on 80s references (Dave does a spot of welding at one point à la Flashdance) that border on gratuitous. The lowlight is an awkward moment of physical comedy in the form of a scuffle between Julie and Dave that feels clumsily staged and choreographed.
Any tension that Julie and Dave may become part of the fabled ‘Curse of Brink’s-Mat‘ is quickly dissipated by the largely-comic tone of the script that makes the rare serious moments fall flat. Nicholas Collett and Kate Stafford make for a convincing couple, effectively portraying Dave and Julie’s relationship and occasionally making the odd line work – it’s a shame that they’re let down by the script.
Gold! tries to aim for being part of the great British comedy-crime genre (The Lavender Hill Mob, Lock, Stock…), but sadly fails to achieve its goals due to the weakness of the script and clashing comedic/dramatic tones. The central idea is promising, but sticking to a singular tone would have helped considerably.
Gold! runs until Sat 26 Aug 2023 at theSpace on the Mile – Space 2 at 20:15