STRUCTURE OF A PLAY |
| Before I write a play, I diagram it as if
it were a football game. The playing field represents the
location of the action. The hero of the play – the one who
has to solve the problem – is the star player. His or her
allies are the other members of the team and the people and forces who
oppose him or her are the opposite team. The football, of course, represents the problem. The star player’s goal post represents the solution the star is seeking, and the enemy team’s goal post represents the “worst case scenario” the hero is trying to avoid. Once I have identified all these key elements of the play, I just have to write it, and that’s the fun part. - Arupa Chiarini, Playwright STORY Climax is the moment of highest intensity and interest. The climax is usually also the crisis or turning point of the fortunes of the protagonists, the fortunes of the antagonists, the peak of the rising action. Conflict is the struggle between opposing forces that determines the action. Story conflict can pit character against nature (i.e. storms at sea), character against another character (protagonist versus antagonist) or character against himself. Falling Action is that part of a dramatic plot that follows the climax or point of highest interest. Rising Action is that part of a dramatic plot that leads through a series of events of increasing interest and power to the climax. It begins with an event that sets a conflict of opposing forces into motion, and moves through complication towards the climax.
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