STAGE AND SCREEN
It is a much quoted maxim that there are only seven stories in fiction and that all others are
based on them. Is it true, and what might these seven stories be?
IF IT IS true, do you think someone should introduce Barbara Cartland to the other six?
Jim McNeil, Sheffield, S. Yorks.
I'M NOT sure about plots for stories, but plots for plays is something my father, the Irish
playwright Denis Johnston, had a lot to say about. Originally he thought there were seven, but
then he realised there are in fact eight:
1. Cinderella - or unrecognised virtue at last recognised. It's the same story as the Tortoise
and the Hare. Cinderella doesn't have to be a girl, nor does it even have to be a love story.
What is essential is that the Good is despised, but is recognised in the end, something that
we all want to believe.
2. Achilles - the Fatal Flaw that is the groundwork for practically all classical tragedy, although
it can be made comedy too, as in the old standard Aldwych farce. Lennox Robinson's The
Whiteheaded Boy is the Fatal Flaw in reverse.
3. Faust - the Debt that Must be Paid, the fate that catches up with all of us sooner or later.
This is found in all its purity as the chase in O'Neill's The Emperor Jones. And in a completely
different mood, what else is The Cherry Orchard?
4. Tristan - that standard triangular plot of two women and one man, or two men and one
woman. The Constant Nymph or almost any French farce.
5. Circe - the Spider and the Fly. Othello. The Barretts of Wimpole Street if you want to
change the sex. And if you don't believe me about Othello (the real plot of which is not the
triangle and only incidentally jealousy) try casting it with a good Desdemona but a poor Iago.
6. Romeo and Juliet - Boy meets Girl, Boy loses Girl, Boy either finds or does not find Girl - it
doesn't matter which.
7. Orpheus - The Gift taken Away. This may take two forms: either the tragedy of the loss
itself, as in Juno and the Paycock, or it may be about the search that follows the loss, as in
Jason and the Golden Fleece.
8. The Hero Who Cannot Be Kept Down. The best example of this is that splendid play
Harvey , made into a film with James Stewart.
These plots can be presented in so many different forms - tragedy, comedy, farce, whodunnit
- and they can be inverted, but they still form the basis of all good writing. The fault with many
contemporary plays is simply that they do not have a plot.
Rory Johnston, London NW3.
RORY JOHNSTON's listing of eight basic plots for plays seems very inadequate. Georges
Polti, in his famous book, The Thirty-Six Dramatic Situations classified these not by
legendary/mythological tales of archetypes or personalities (Faust, Circe, etc.) but by the
situation itself, e.g., no. 10, 'Abduction'; no. 25, 'Adultery'; no. 3, 'Crime Pursued by
Vengeance', etc., etc. Nobody to my knowledge has improved on Polti's 36 possible plots,
though some of his sub-divisions taken from classical models are, to say the least, tenuous
(Situation 26e: 'A woman enamoured of a bull'). Confusion may have arisen with the old
saying among comedians that there are only seven basic jokes.
John Pilkington, Playwright, Exeter, Devon.
TO MR JOHNSTON'S eight plots for plays you can add David and Goliath - the individual
against the repressive/corrupt powers of the state or community, or their rival claims. As in
Enemy Of The People, The Visit and, of course, Antigone .
Leslie Caplan, London NW3.
CONSIDER the following application of Mr Johnston's eight prototypical plots:
1. Cinderella. Rick, an expat Yank bar-owner in wartime Morocco, begins as a drunken cynic
but his 'essential goodness' is at last celebrated.
2. Achilles. Like the Greek warrior, the proud, 'fatally flawed' Rick - once a doer of great deeds
- spends most of the story sulking in his tent. He is forced into selfless action only for the sake
of the refugee Elsa, the woman he loves.
3. Faust. Rick's good looks, fame and wealth may be parochial but they are Faustian and
gratuitous. Inevitably, Rick's debt is called in and he gives up his business, his girl and
everything he has lived for.
4. Tristan. Manly Rick (Tristan) loves and is loved by sultry Elsa (Isolde) but she is already
married to wimpish Victor Lazlo (King Mark).
5. Circe. Elsa's wiles entice Rick into her service only to destroy him.
6. Romeo and Juliet. Once, in Paris, Rick and Elsa loved and lost each other. Here, in
Morocco, they get back together but are finally parted again.
7. In a concrete sense the gift taken away is a Letter of Transit which would enable Rick to go
back to America but which he is forced to give up to Lazlo. More symbolically, the gift is of
personal happiness and is sacrificed to political necessity, since to save Lazlo is to save the
world for democracy.
8. The Irrepressible Hero is Rick personified.
There is also a ninth archetypical story-line, The Wandering Jew, which is bafflingly excluded
from Mr Johnston's list. Rick is, of course, the persecuted traveller who will never return
home. Thus, instead of eight (or nine) stories, there is only one, and it is called Casablanca .
Robin Blake, London WC1.
THERE are only about seven themes in fiction, and they include Love, Money, Power,
Revenge, Survival, Glory and Self-awareness. It is the quest for these that makes a story.
Most stories have more than one theme and it is the superimposition of themes, with the
arising conflicts, that makes a story interesting. Robin Blake's suggestion that all stories can
be imposed on the Casablanca plot is really saying that Casablanca contains several basic
themes, which it does, most of which are not resolved and in general are badly written.
Nevertheless, the film is good because of its dramatic tension, partly created by the fact that
actors were given their scripts on a daily basis, so never knew the ending themselves. It might
also have been quite a different film if the original actor chosen for the lead had played the
part: Ronald Reagan.
Stan Hayward, Author of Scriptwriting For Animation, London NW2.
The seminal book on this subject is 'The Seven Basic Plots' by Christopher Booker (2004) 700 pages of detailed analysis. Booker lists the 7 basic plots as: 1. Overcoming the Monster
2. Rags to Riches 3. The Quest 4. Voyage and Return 5. Comedy 6. Tragedy 7. Rebirth
James Payne, London, UK
