Mat Osman's The Ghost Theatre Imagines the Lives of Elizabethan London's Child Actors

<p>Mat Osman's new novel, <em>The Ghost Theatre,</em> takes us flying over the rooftops of Elizabethan London and down into the gritty lives of its child actors. A historical novel set in a vibrant and sensuously reimagined Elizabethan London, the book's main character is Shay, the daughter of a clairvoyant who lives among a community who worship birds. When Shay meets a charming young actor named Nonesuch, she is drawn into the world of the children’s theater—that is, a theater whose actors and crew are all made up of young people, performing for an audience made of primarily of adults. Shay falls in love with performance and joins an immersive guerrilla theater troupe that gets tangled up in a violent political power struggle.</p> <p><em>The Ghost Theatre</em> is Osman's second novel, but you might know him as the bass player for the British rock band Suede. To get the texture of Elizabethan life right in <em>The Ghost Theatre</em>, Osman researched as much as he could at the margins of history. Osman tells Barbara Bogaev about how he imagined the lives of London's early modern child actors.</p> <p><em>The Ghost Theatre</em> is available now from Overlook Press.</p> <p>This episode was produced by Matt Frassica. Garland Scott is the associate producer. It was edited by Gail Kern Paster. Ben Lauer is the web producer. Leonor Fernandez edits a transcript of every episode, available at folger.edu. We had technical help from Sarah Nicol in London and Jenna McClellan at Voice Trax West in Studio City, California. Final mixing services provided by Clean Cuts at Three Seas, Inc.</p>