David Bowie's final project before his death in 2016 was an 18th-century musical called The Spectator, according to a forthcoming exhibition of his archive at the V&A East Storehouse. The work was based on a daily newspaper of the same name that ran from 1711 to 1712, documenting London society.
Bowie's notes reveal he considered notorious petty thief Jack Sheppard as a lead character, alongside Jonathan Wild, the vigilante who had Sheppard arrested and executed. He also focused on the Mohocks, a gang of high-class young men who attacked people on the streets.
Lead curator Madeleine Haddon told the BBC that Bowie explored the role of artists in the period and how they created satirical commentary. The materials include a dedicated notebook and sticky notes left on the walls of his private office in New York, to which only Bowie and his PA had a key.
Theatre was a lifelong influence for Bowie, who studied under Lindsay Kemp and told the BBC in 2002 he always wanted to write for theatre. The notes and his desk will be on display when the David Bowie Centre opens at the V&A East Storehouse in Hackney Wick on 13 September.
The centre will have 200 items on permanent display, with fans able to apply to view any of the 90,000-piece archive. It expands on the 2013 David Bowie Is exhibition, the most visited show in the museum's history. Bowie's final completed work was his 26th album, Blackstar, released two days before his death in January 2016.
