Review: ‘Assassination of Leon Trotsky’ not quite a killer comedy

In “The Assassination of Leon Trotsky,” a world premiere at the Odyssey, Peter Lefcourt, a playwright and Emmy-winning television writer-producer, slips his chain.

The play has been subtitled “A Comedy,” but it’s clear that Lefcourt intends an out-and-out farce. But in farce, catastrophe gallops through a slammed boudoir door or five, catching its characters hilariously unawares. In “Trotsky,” the characters embrace chaos deliberately and without motivation, a soggy approach that considerably dampens the humor.

The action is set largely onstage during a play about Trotsky’s final days in Mexico, and also backstage of the off-off Broadway theater where the play is opening. For some reason, the play’s performers are so collectively disgruntled that they throw out the script (on opening night, no less) and wing things.

The ill-fated play features Trotsky (Joel Swetow) and his wife, Natalya Sedova (Holly Hawkins), who have been brought to Mexico by their revolutionary compatriots Diego Rivera (Joe J. Garcia) and Frida Kahlo (Murielle Zuker).

Two attractive servant-models (Ashley Platz and Christopher Rivas) round out Rivera’s ménage, a sex-crazed bunch if there ever was one. The agitated author (Greyson Lewis) wants his play performed as written, but the cast’s “comical” segues, consisting mostly (and bizarrely) of Shakespearean monologues, interrupt the action at regular intervals.

Lefcourt panders for cheap laughs throughout. Shortly after arriving in Mexico, the handcuffed Trotsky is enthusiastically whipped by his missus – just one of many tawdry and flagrantly incongruous scenes. Meanwhile, crucial story points remain irritatingly unexplained.

Lefcourt’s frequent collaborator, Terri Hanauer, helms the proceedings, but there’s not a lot she can do. The performers, many of them seasoned practitioners with sterling credits, try their best to compensate for their material, but one suspects they are in for a long slog through a thankless run.

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“The Assassination of Leon Trotsky: A Comedy.” Odyssey Theatre, 2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd., Los Angeles. 8 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays, 3 p.m. Sundays. Ends July 28. $25-$30. (323) 965-7735. www.plays411.com/trotsky. Running time: 2 hours.