Mat Osman’s The Ghost Theatre, is, in anyone’s book, a stunning achievement: a feverdream version of a literary historical novel, blending history with imaginative possibility to spell-binding effect. Written in lush, evocative prose and set in an alternative version of Elizabethan England, it’s a heady mix that explores the boundaries between reality and fantasy that includes a troupe of young performers who attain superstar status, a bird-worshipping cult, a utopian peasants’ revolt and encounters with reallife characters Queen Elizabeth and the magician John Dee.