The Ghost Theatre
Mat Osman
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The Ghost Theatre
Mat Osman
On a rooftop in Elizabethan London two worlds collide. Shay is a messenger-girl and trainer of hawks who sees the future in the patterns of birds. Nonesuch is the dark star of the city's fabled child theatre scene, as famous as royalty yet lowly as a beggar.
Together they create The Ghost Theatre - a troupe staging magical plays in London's hidden corners. As their hallucinatory performances incite rebellion among the city's outcasts, the pair's relationship sparks and burns against a backdrop of the plague and a London in flames. Their growing fame sweeps them up into the black web of the Elizabethan court, where Shay and Nonesuch discover that if they fly too high, a fall is sure to come.
Fantastical and captivating, The Ghost Theatre charts the rise and dramatic destruction of a dream born from love and torn apart by betrayal.
Review
Alicia Guiney
Mat Osman’s The Ghost Theatre balances precariously between historical fiction and fantasy. Set in Elizabethan London, it features many of the historical hallmarks we know to expect, and inserts many of its own, lending the novel a unique flair. Our main character, Shay, prowls the streets of London by day, interacting with real historical figures such as Elizabeth I and John Dee, before returning home each night to her entirely fictitious bird-worshipping cult, the Aviscultans.
This singular blend of fact and fiction creates a dazzling air which feels like magical realism, yet features very little actual magic. Osman repeatedly stuns throughout the book with lavish descriptions of seeming impossibilities; a mansion made entirely of glass, a river of butterflies, a city that appears from nowhere to shower its guests in bacchic joy. And yet what really sets this book apart is the way Osman repeatedly deconstructs these scenes, forcibly removing the rose-tinted glasses through which the reader is inclined to view these moments.
By showing us the wooden foundations on which the glass house is built, Osman challenges the reader to confront the way art and beauty are used to disguise the more monstrous tendencies of society. What may seem like miracles often come at the expense of the most vulnerable, an idea which resonates within modern society. It should be noted that one grim facet of exploitation explored by this book is child prostitution. This book is a must read for fans of The Night Circus and those who are disillusioned with the spectacles of the rich and famous.
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