Irish playwright Enda Walsh - the man responsible for plays like Disco Pigs, The Walworth Farce, Ballyturk and Misterman - is reportedly working on a stage adaptation of  the David Bowie-starring film 'The Man Who Fell to Earth'.

Walsh has form when it comes to musical adaptations; he adapted the film 'Once' for the stage, which has gone on to be hugely successful worldwide.

The stage adaptation of the 1976 film - which in turn, was based on a 1963 sci-fi novel by Walter Tevis and later adapted for a TV series in the 1980s - is called 'Lazarus'. The New York Theatre Workshop announced yesterday that Walsh was working with Bowie to develop the production, while rumours abound that the musician is working on new songs to include in the score.

It is expected to open off-Broadway later this year.

"It's going to be a play with characters and songs - I'm calling it music theater, but I don't really know what it's going to be like, I just have incredible trust in their creative vision," said the NYTW's Artistic Director James C. Nicola. "I'm really excited about it. These are three very different sensibilities to be colliding."

Walsh had previously been rumoured to be working on a stage production about the life of musician Rufus Wainwright, although there has been no mention of it over the last few years.