Pour Decisions – The Glitch, London

In a seedy dive bar, workers Frankie and Jess banter with each other, playing “Would You Rather?” or discussing the merits of orange juice with bits. The following morning, after an apparent work party, Jess wakes up in the bar, still dressed in her clothes from the night before, and with no memory of events. Which is particularly tricky, as her sleazy boss Digby’s body lies dead behind the bar…

Alice Mogridge’s comedy starts off with some astute skewering of the bar industry, from backed-up toilets to catering that is reduced to a bank of air fryers and microwaves. Actors Mogridge and Sasha van Diepen combine an easy chemistry with underlying tensions that are suitable for the increasingly perilous situation, as the two women discuss how to deal with the corpse.

Like all good murder mysteries, Mogridge escalates the stakes occasionally, especially when a vermin inspector calls round and has to be placated via the medium of a Ring doorbell app. But as one might expect from a two-hander, it is the chemistry between the two characters that forms the backbone of the operation.

Mogridge lightly traverses some topics that could proffer some serious discussion, especially around sexual harassment in the workplace (her character Frankie is more sanguine about Digby’s attentions, while Jess is outraged on her behalf). Rather than getting bogged down in the sociopolitics of it all, it’s taken as an opportunity for more humour. Whether what he did was sufficient motive for murder is unclear, but his employees are certainly not going to mourn him.

Comedy also extends to the women’s attempts to tidy up after Frankie’s possible murder. The cover-up is, as is so often the case, more interesting than the crime itself. Attempts to access Digby’s phone via facial recognition – always difficult when the face itself is dead – and to lay false trails of digital clues to suggest their odious employer is still alive are great fun.

Digby himself is always obscured by the small bar area of director Molly Fraser’s simple design, with just a pair of denim-clad legs poking out from one end. Emma Langan’s lighting design doesn’t need to do much, but achieves much with a blue flashing light at the end to signal police involvement.

The crime is resolved through a voiceover, in which a detective reveals what happened. If this were primarily a murder mystery, it would be unforgivable that a whole slew of clues are revealed right at the very end instead of being dotted through the play. But Pour Decisions is more focused on the comedy, and in that regard, it delivers.

Runs until 13 October 2025