The third and final character is introduced near the end of the play: Ramon Mercader, the Spanish assassin who "smashed, not buried" the axe into Trotsky's skull.
Trotsky then comes to grips with the facts of his impending demise, settling affairs with his wife, pondering the nature of man and humanity ("So even an assassin can make the flowers grow") and reciting some future events that he will never live to know about.
Trotsky accepts that he is fortunate just to have lived for another day after the attack—that this seems to be symbolic of some sort of hope concerning human life.
Variations on the Death of Trotsky was originally presented in January 1991[3] at the Manhattan Punch Line Theatre (Steve Kaplan, artistic director), in New York City as part of its annual Festival of One-Act Comedies.
The cast was as follows: Variations on the Death of Trotsky was performed as part of the Ives' six one-act plays All in the Timing Off-Broadway at Primary Stages in December 1993 and revived in 2013.