the filthy world of john waters

A 300 pound transvestite is violently caressed by a giant lobster. A troupe of merry acid freaks parade about a cardboard city in the backwaters of Baltimore. A demented gang captures an aging movie star and they then force her to perform in their trashy films. A teenage rebel discovers the joy of drinking his own tears.

These are scenes birthed from the wonderfully filthy mind of director John Waters.  Admittedly, a very acquired filmic taste, but if you share in his delight of things strange, Waters is like some kind of messiah.

He is renowned for his infamous partnership with the aforementioned 300 pound transvestite named Divine, as well as other eccentric collaborators including Mink Stole, Edith Massey, plus various porn-stars and real-life convicted criminals. Most exemplary of their trashy aesthetics is the cult hit Pink Flamingos; key scenes of which involve Divine, dressed in stilettos and bee-hived, strutting down a main street in Baltimore, and later, wielding a pistol and declaring herself ‘The filthiest person alive’. Amusingly, Waters is also responsible for a few accidental mainstream successes, including Cry Baby starring Johnny Depp and the original Hairspray.

Throughout October we will be offered the chance to spend an afternoon with the man himself, as he tours his autobiographic show This Filthy World, to our fair shores. One may be nervous to discover just how someone dubbed The Pope of Trash, actually operates in real life. Whereas this may conjure images of a snivelling, dishevelled, hunch-backed sex-offender, in reality, Waters is nothing but polite, ‘pencil-moustached’, and dapper. Rather than revelling in the overtly sick-and-twisted nature of his films, he seems just as bemused by it all as we are.

In This Filthy World, Waters will discuss his favourite childhood movie The Wizard of Oz, his love of movie gimmickry, and he will detail the creation of Odorama– a scratch ‘n’ sniff card to be used alongside the watching of a film – the original 4D.

It may seem strange that this softly-spoken gentleman is the director of movies featuring violent acid disfiguration, crazed weirdoes, feces and foot fetishes, but by the end of This Filthy World, you’ll want nothing more than to be his best friend.

Tour Dates:

Wed 19 Oct Perth Concert Hall WA

Tue 25 Oct Canberra Theatre ACT

Wed 26 Oct Brisbane Powerhouse QLD

Thu 27 Oct Her Majesty’s Theatre SA

Sat 29 Oct Melbourne Recital Centre VIC