Variations on the Death of Trotsky is a short one-act comedy-drama written by David Ives for All in the Timing. The play fictionalizes the death of Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky through a number of distinct variations, though all from the same, historically accurate cause: a wound to the head by an ice ax—referred to in the play as a "mountain-climber's ax", for comic effect, to distinguish it from an icepick.
While keeping with the tradition and style of Ives's plays of taking an odd conceit and playing it for laughs as the audience finds its feet before giving the big payoff, Variations is distinguished, along with Words, Words, Words and Philip Glass Buys a Loaf of Bread in that, while it begins comically, it may end either comically or dramatically, depending on the production. It is unique in that, of all of his works, it calls the most for an unexpectedly tragic, sentimental ending. Arguably, it is also Ives' only piece centered around a single character. (While "Philip Glass Buys a Loaf of Bread" could be similarly considered, in fact the majority of that play is an ensemble piece.)
Read more about Variations On The Death Of Trotsky: Synopsis, Original Production
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—Leon Trotsky (1879–1940)