Stealing the show

Mat Osman (pictured) discusses The Ghost Theatre, his tale of an Elizabethan theatre troupe that used stolen children

Was The Ghost Theatre inspired by real-life Elizabethans? It was inspired by a 1602 court case in which nobleman Henry Clifton accused the owner of the Blackfriars Theatre, Henry Evans, of kidnapping his son. The boy was snatched in the street to be a Blackfriars Boy, a child actor at the Blackfriars Theatre. The case intrigued me. Why were children being stolen?

What impression of Elizabethan London did you want to create?

I loved the sense I got from Elizabethan writers of how modern their London felt to them. It was filthy, crowded and vibrant, a crossroads for the world’s commerce and fashions, and every bit as faddy and eclectic as today’s city.

What research did you do to help imagine your characters?

I read as much as I could about ordinary life in those times. A history of Elizabethan fashions told me huge amounts about how stratified London was then (working-class people could have been arrested just for wearing purple!). And Stephan Alford’s London’s Triumph was brilliant on how the city’s role as a merchant hub made it into a multicultural melting pot. Best of all were the books on Shakespeare. The details of his everyday existence in London really brought the Tudor city to life for me.

Did your own experiences being on stage with the band Suede influence how you wrote about performing?

Hugely. I’m often frustrated that books about performers focus on their lifestyles rather than the experiences of being on stage. I tried to write about the magic that happens in live performances (and the terrors that accompany them).

The Ghost Theatre by Mat Osman

Bloomsbury, 320 pages, £9.99