The bassist and author talks about artistic ambition, sibling dynamics - and how being on tour inspired his riotous new novel, The Ghost Theatre
. Now he has written it, too, in the form of a novel about star-crossed child actors in Elizabethan London. It’s a book about performance, he says, because the subject fascinates him. Everybody performs, whether they’re on stage or not. They might perform the role of a rock star, an office worker, a van driver, a writer. And if they play the role well enough, who’s to say it’s not true?
I always thought music seemed the pinnacle of human existence. But as I get older, books become more important It’s an excellent novel – riotous and abundant, full of vivid, dirty life. The Ghost Theatre clatters between the slums and the palaces, the streets and the rooftops, and folds Queen Elizabeth in with a rogues’ gallery of crooks. Osman’s heroine is Shay, a bird-worshipping fugitive from the Isle of Dogs who hooks up with the mercurial child star Nonesuch. But Osman’s real co-star is the city of London itself, stewing in a soup of smoke and sweat.
Osman shrugs. “The biggest difference between my world and his is that Rick has no interest in being cool. And he never has – it’s quite impressive. At the age of 15 he was writing for a golf magazine. He loves Saturday night TV. He loves Ant and Dec. He loves Busted. He doesn’t want to be Martin Scorsese. And I’ve got so much respect for that.” Another shrug. “I mean, I’m 55. There’s something undignified about being 55 and worrying whether something’s cool or not.
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