Pour Decisions is a fifty-minute two-handed play at present being staged at The Glitch in Lower Marsh, five minutes from the Old Vic, and one of my favourite ‘fringe’ venues: in reality, just a basement space with two pillars which hold the ceiling up, blocking the view!
Alice Mogridge, the author, who also plays one of the roles (Frankie), tells us that her play takes place in “a bar like no other. Toilets so backed up they resemble lasagne… and two members of staff who have got themselves into a predicament”. Basically, neither can remember what happened the previous evening/night during a ‘wild work party’. Had they been ‘guests’ at this party, their predicament might have been more understandable, but they are supposed to be the bar staff! “Can she (Frankie) clean up her mess before this evening’s shift…have her actions had irreversible consequences?”
Mogridge says that she was inspired to write it by a “particular dive bar I used to work at. The whole place was a play waiting to happen… I was shocking myself with what I was writing… it was so funny reliving these events whilst writing…” She goes on to say that she has been influenced by “Daisy May Cooper, Kat Sadler, Dawn French, Caroline Aherne. These are the sort of writers that make me realise that you can write something that’s really weird…”
In fact, the result is a cross between Theatre-of-the Absurd and Farce, except that, unfortunately, it is only rarely amusing, as the author seems to be trying too hard: comedy of any sort is the most difficult both to write and act and Mogridge has given herself a very difficult task.
Neither character, Jess (Sasha van Diepen) nor Frankie (the playwright herself), are given enough backstory or motivation for anything they do. The most successful element of the play is that it has tremendous pace throughout, but this is almost relentless and we could do with some time for reflection. In fact, in her effort to maintain the pace, Mogridge’s enunciation is often unclear, which is a shame. Van Diepen uses her physicality well and is the more believable of the two, but her final monologue succeeds in ending the play on an anti-climax, even though she does her level best with what she is given, because the various threads of the plot are left hanging: there is too much that does not make sense – even for something which is ‘absurd’.
Director and designer Molly Fraser has ensured that the play flows, but very often, positioning and movement feel alien to what is being said, and one wishes that Tash Werblow’s lighting, just using four lanterns, had tried harder to create the atmosphere of a seedy bar at sunrise.
Writing one’s first play must be a very difficult process, and Alice Mogridge must be congratulated on attempting it. The next one will be easier!
Review by John Groves
A cabaret bar. Dead end job. An awful lot of Pour Decisions.
This is a dive bar like no other. Toilets so backed up they resemble lasagne, cheap vodka in unbranded bottles and two members of staff who have got themselves in a predicament. It is the morning after a wild work party; Frankie has woken up with no recollection from the night before. Where has everyone gone? Have her actions had irreversible consequences? Can she clean up her mess before this evening’s shift? This dark comedy follows Frankie and Jess as they try to uncover what has happened.
Writer/Frankie – Alice Mogridge
Jess – Sasha van Diepen
Director/Designer – Molly Fraser
Lighting Designer – Emma Langan
Lighting and Sound Operator – Tash Werblow
POUR DECISIONS
The Glitch
8 to 13 October 2025
