THE STORY

Part of task #3 is to create a story. A condensation of the action generated by your germinal idea will become the core action of your play. Aristotle's advice is that the playwright "should first simplify and reduce [the story] to a universal form, before proceeding to lengthen it out by the insertion of episodes." To explain the universal element Aristotle gives an example from Iphigenia.

The story of Iphigenia, dramatized by many Greek poets, includes a plot discovery and a reversal of fortune. Aristotle universalizes the story as follows:

"A certain maiden having been offered in sacrifices, and spirited away from her sacrificers into another land, where the custom was to sacrifice all strangers to the Goddess, she was made there the priestess of this rite. Long after that the brother of the priestess happened to come. . . . On his coming he was arrested, and about to be sacrificed, when he revealed who he was . . . by the not improbable explanation, 'So I too am doomed to be sacrificed, as my sister was'; and the disclosure led to his salvation."

The story of Iphigenia is told in its universal form with a beginning, a middle, and an end. A dramatist who took this basic synopsis would have to determine a point of attack. Starting a play with Iphigenia being offered for sacrifice would create an early point of attack, and probably lead to an episodic construction. Choosing a late point of attack, at the time her brother arrives, means more exposition to bring the audience up to the present moment. A plot discovery takes place when the brother reveals who he is. The reversal of his salvation is brought about through this discovery by Iphigenia..

In the story of Iphigenia the principal agents of the action have not yet been given proper names. However, they have already been characterized to a universal extent by the probability of what they do based on their relationship.

Once the playwright has a story capsulized to a universal form, he can proceed to name the characters and fill out the story by adding the necessary episodes.

Your task, then, is to write your story in a universal form. How you do this will depend on your germinal idea. Basic to the development of your story is a sense of beginning, middle, and end with a pointed description of who is involved and what happens.

If your germinal idea was an incident, then you have to decide whether this incident should be shown as the result of previous action or as the initiation of future action. Some incidents are both a result and an initiator. When you decide you will have chosen the end, beginning, or middle of your story. If you have an incident that is an end result, then you must imagine what led up to this moment. If your incident is the beginning, what will happen from here on? If the incident is the middle, what caused this to happen and where will it lead from here?

Is an unusual or interesting character the source of your germinal idea? Then you have to think of a situation that brings to light the unique qualities of the individual you are trying to characterize. Interesting people on the stage, after a period of time, cease to be interesting if they do not do something. Characters must be put into action.

If an issue is the core of your action, your story can develop from the argument around your issue, or from a depiction of the issue. Avoid making a purely didactic drama. If your story is intended only to teach, then, to stretch the point, you have made an audio-visual aid. Powerful emotions and artistic truth are much more important. If, for instance, your story is about rape as an issue, it is obvious that a rape scene could be a powerfully dramatic moment on stage. Should the scene come at the beginning, then the audience sees the results of rape, or should it come at the end and the audience sees rape as a result of previous action?

In the full-length drama, Extremities, the rapist becomes far more than a stereo-type, he is seen suffering a cruel and unusual fate from the hands of the woman he raped. Such a drama takes the issue into the realm of the mystifying aspects of human behavior, lifting the action beyond the commonplace.

Another lively way to dramatize an issue is to show the ridiculous qualities of the argument associated with the issue. Education is an issue. A man sends his son to college to learn to make a living, but when he visits the school he sees that all of the professors have their heads in the clouds. Comic possibilities capitalizing on anti-intellectualism abound.

Whether your germinal ideas was an incident, an issue, or a character, you need to find a core action that contains a beginning, a middle, and an end within a universal form shaped by probability. This story, as in the example of Iphigenia, should be stated in a few sentences.

Back to Playwriting

Schedule of Tasks | Requirements for Play | Table of Contents

Back to Prof. Feighner's Home Page