Estimated Time: 5 minutes

When Miss Spink and Miss Forcible are talking, they use some funny-sounding phrases that might be a little confusing. Let’s break them down so they make more sense!

“Trod the boards, luvvy”

When Miss Spink says this, she means that she used to be an actress. “Trod the boards” is a fancy way of saying she walked on the stage a lot when she was performing in plays. It’s like saying, “I was on stage a lot!”

“Don’t wear green in your dressing room.”

This is a bit of theater advice. Long ago, actors thought it was bad luck to wear green in the place where they get ready for the play (called a dressing room). Even though it sounds a little silly, some people in the theater still believe in this.

“Or mention the Scottish play.”

This is another funny theater superstition. A lot of actors believe that saying the name of one of Shakespeare’s plays, Macbeth, brings bad luck. So, instead of saying the name, they call it “the Scottish play.” They’re trying to avoid bad luck by not saying the name out loud.

These phrases are just fun theater traditions that actors like Miss Spink and Miss Forcible remember from when they were on stage. Have you heard any of these before?