The play depicts a discussion taking place between two elderly men sitting on a park bench watching ducks.
The dialogue begins with the mating habits of ducks and runs to examine law, friendship and death.
By argument and occasional agreement a composite view of ducks and by extension, the world, begins to emerge.
[1] The double bill of Sexual Perversity in Chicago and The Duck Variations was produced Off-Broadway at the Cherry Lane Theatre, from June 16, 1976 to April 17, 1977.
According to theatre critic Charles McNulty, The Duck Variations, about seniors and death, is often paired with Sexual Perversity in Chicago, about young adults and sex.