Billboarding is theater slang for giving a word or phrase a little extra prominence, the way a skilled Shakespearean actor might set off the first mention of a person or place so the audience catches it. The technique is one of many practical habits described in Thinking Shakespeare by Barry Edelstein, artistic director at San Diego’s Old Globe Theatre. Written for actors and directors, the book also gives nonperformers a way into Shakespeare’s language, asking why a character chooses a particular word at a particular moment. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of ““Billboarding” Sets Key Shakespearean Names Apart From the Rest of a Line”
You’re listening to A Way with Words, the show about language and how we use it. I’m Grant Barrett.
And I’m Martha Barnette. I just learned a slang term from the world of theater. It’s billboarding.
Do you know this term, billboarding?
No.
When an actor billboards a word, it means he or she gives that word a special prominence.
And you’ll find that really good Shakespearean actors do just that when they deliver their lines.
They billboard the names of people and places, especially if they’re the first person in the play to say that name.
They’re trained to set that word apart, to give it just a little extra.
I learned that and many, many, many more things from the new edition of a book called Thinking Shakespeare.
It’s by Barry Edelstein, and he’s the artistic director of the Old Globe Theater here in San Diego.
And the book is based on his distinguished 30-year career as a stage director and producer.
Thinking Shakespeare is a working guide for actors and directors, but really it’s a great book for anybody who wants to have a better appreciation for the work of the Bard.
Edelstein taught for years at Juilliard and the Public Theater in New York, and he’s the best kind of educator because his book is really joyous.
You know, that favorite teacher, that favorite professor you had, and you just wish you could go out for a long dinner with them and have them tell you all the reasons they love their subject so much and tell you little background information.
He offers lots of funny asides and allusions, and he provides these useful paraphrases of what’s going on in a scene.
And he sets up the passages by reminding lay readers what’s going on, so it’s not like you come to the passages cold.
And it’s just so much fun reading about how he teaches actors to wring out all the juice from a single line in Shakespeare.
And the way they do that is they really dig into the words.
He talks about how, you know, the spectacle is fun in a play and the action is interesting.
But you can get that from HBO.
What we go to Shakespeare for is the language, is the words.
And he’s forever urging actors to ask themselves, why is this character using this particular word right now?
And the answers are thrilling, even if you never set foot on the stage.
So that book is Thinking Shakespeare by Barry Edelstein.
Well billboarded.
Thank you.
We’d love to talk to you about Shakespearean words or plays or how to perform language well.
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