The plot is what happens in the play

The story is what happens BEFORE THE PLAY

BEGINS. For example if in a play you find out
that a year ago (before the play actually
began) the moon disappeared, then this
would be a part of the story, not of the plot.
There are many types of plots, we will learn
about the climactic plot, which is the most
common


Story
line
begins
Inciting
Incident
Story
ends
Climax
Denouement or
falling action
Rising Action
Point
of
attack
The beginning
The middle The end
Complications
& discoveries
Before the
play
Story
line
begins
Before the
play
The story may begin only a day before the plot or it could
be 20 years before. We need to understand the story in
order to fully understand the plot.


Point
of
attack
The beginning
The beginning of the play establishes place, situation,
characters, mood, theme and internal logic (rules of
the game)
The point of attack is the
moment in the story at which
the plot begins.


Inciting
Incident
The middle
This event also leads to the MAJOR DRAMATIC QUESTION
(what we are asking ourselves as an audience).
The inciting Incident is what sets the main action in motion, what
gets the action really rising.


Rising Action
The middle
Complication- any new element that changes the
direction of the action-the discovery of new
information for example, or the arrival of a
character

These are all the events that happen after the
Inciting Incident but before the climax that lead us
to the climax



Climax
The end
The complications culminate in the climax
The climax is the highest
point of interest, point
of most important
action, the point that
determines the outcome
(the big fight)


Denouement or
falling action
The end
Denoument Resolution
(unraveling or untying)
Returns the situation to
a state of balance and
satisfies audience
expectations (after the
climax)

It may resolve the conflict, make sense of the
action, answer questions or solidify the theme