Pure Gold....

The latest show at Soho is Pure Gold by Michael Bhim. It’s co-production between Talawa Theatre, Britain’s premiere black theatre company who celebrated their 21st birthday this year, and Soho.

It’s tells the story of Simon, a black bus driver who wants to give his girlfriend Marsha and son Anthony the good life, but can’t accept that the colour of his skin means he faces a life of continual prejudice whenever he tries to get his head above water. Having lost his job he needs cash quick so he turns to his dodgy cousin Paul and finds himself involved in the murky world of driving illegal immigrants into the country from France.

There’s a couple of subplots about Marsha wanting an education and curmudgeonly pensioner neighbour George demonstrating the true value of friendship, but the crux of the story is whether Simon will take Paul’s money and sell his soul or whether he’ll return the money and realise that wrong isn’t right whatever the motivation.

Clarence Smith’s performance as downtrodden everyman Simon holds the evening together and even when the script gets clunky he remains engaging. Mark Monero and Leonard Fenton are superb as dodgy rogue with a heart Paul and nosey neighbour with a heart George, Golda Rosheuvel is OK as Marsha (even though it’s not a particularly sympathetically written role) and 12-year-old Louis Ekoku is excellent as the son torn between his mum’s morality and his dad’s aspirations.

Sadly it’s not an extraordinary play in any way. It’s a kitchen-sink drama set on a London sink estate (a sort of kitchen-sink-sink drama if you like), and even though it’s pretty tightly written and much of the dialogue is sharp and brisk it’s not anything more than a superior episode of EastEnders made flesh. And that's a shame because there's much here to suggest Bhim can write something stronger.