The Death Of Trotsky

The Death Of Trotsky

Series
WBAI And NPR Playhouse
Original Broadcast Date
1979
Cast
Joe Frank
Format
1 hour
Chronology
Preceded by:	Arena
Followed by:	Til You're Gone

"The bus leaves in the evening from the Buena Vista station, crosses 27 bridges to the valley of the crumbs."

The Death Of Trotsky is the name of a program Joe Frank produced as part of the series WBAI and NPR Playhouse. It was originally broadcast in 1979.

Synopsis

Fictionalized, third-person account of Trotsky's assassin, cut with assorted other events. Joe reads a poem. First person scenes from a hospital, a cemetery. Stalin is Trotsky in disguise. Prayers full of Nada. Being afraid of nothing. The problems of analysts. Toes engaged in a discussion of socialism, a woman lays an egg, a bird becomes a war plane. Kierkegaard regrets the decision not to marry, is taunted by children shouting "Either, Or," make a leap of faith before an audience. Trotsky is serenaded by a terrible orchestra. A holy man is buried for forty days. Falling asleep while killing Trotsky. A pregnant old man in a golf course. The power of confession. Nihilism; Nietzsche is accused of killing god; Freud treats a kleptomaniac; the future determines the past. Trotsky's killer leads a revolutionary cadre into the woods, becomes lost, discovers that their side has already won and become corrupt, and captures dissidents.

Interesting Facts

The nada prayer appears in Ernest Hemingway's short story A Clean Well Lighted Place

Music

• "Solea" - Miles Davis (from Sketches of Spain, 1960) | YouTube
• "Section I" - Steve Reich (from "Music for 18 Musicians", 1978)

Commentary

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