Midweek Treat

Power Plays. At Victoria Hall Theater, Thursday, December
14.

Reviewed by Elena Gray-Blanc

Power Plays, the fifth installment in Victoria Hall Theater’s
Theatrical Treats series, was all about sex — subtly and with
unexpected depth in the first of Elaine May’s one-acts, The Way of
All Fish, and perhaps too blatantly in the farce In and Out of the
Light.

The Way of All Fish follows two women through an evening of
accidental companionship. Ms. Asquith (Leslie Gangl Howe), an
executive, makes an uncharacteristic attempt to have a personal
conversation with her secretary, Miss Riverton (Deborah Helm), and
discovers, to her shock, that her timid subordinate aspires to find
everlasting fame by murdering a celebrity. Miss Riverton has
finally given up on killing an A-lister, however, and intends to be
satisfied with someone merely wealthy and influential. The rich and
well-connected Ms. Asquith, in fear for her life, temporarily
becomes subject to Miss Riverton’s whims, reversing their
dynamic.