David Bowie was working on a secret project at the time of his death in 2016, as reported by the BBC. ‘The Spectator’ was envisaged by Bowie to be an “18th Century Musical” based on the daily periodical of the same name, published by Joseph Addison and Richard Steele in London from 1711 to 1712.
A series of post-it notes relating to the plot of ‘The Spectator’ were left stuck to the wall of Bowie’s study in New York. The room was always locked – only Bowie and his personal assistant had a key – so the project remained unknown to anyone else until archivists began cataloguing Bowie’s belongings.
The post-it notes will now be available for public view when the David Bowie Centre opens at the V&A East Storehouse in London’s Hackney Wick on September 13, along with a notebook of comments on The Spectator, and the desk where he worked.
Bowie’s notes suggest that he was looking to incorporate real characters from early 18th century London into the plot of his musical, such as notorious thief ‘Honest Jack’ Sheppard and his capturer Jonathan Wild – a vigilante who styled himself as the ‘Thief-Taker General’ – as well a gang called The Mohocks.
“He was interested in the development of musicals themselves in London in this period, and how musicals were used for political satire, particularly towards the Robert Walpole government,” says Madeleine Haddon, curator of the David Bowie Archive.
“It’s interesting to think that Bowie was working on this in the US in 2015, with the political situation that was taking place there. Was he thinking about that: The power of art forms to create change within our own political moment?”
The David Bowie Archive opens at the V&A East Storehouse on September 13 with around 200 items on public display and others available to view on request by applying in advance here.
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