Divine’s close encounter with a rosary – & then a marauding lobster! – in MULTIPLE MANIACS (1970) kickstarts a glorious John Waters ‘selectrospective’ at The Prince Charles (04 MAR to 26 JUN 2019). Here’s our RADIANT CIRCUS guide to every goddam thing.

By RADIANT CIRCUS

Twitter @radiantcircus | Instagram @radiantcircus

There shouldn’t be any need to explain the career of John Waters, Baltimore’s Pope Of Trash, so I’ll offer an autobiographical titbit instead. Being a child of the 70s and 80s – aren’t we all now Thatcher’s children? – there really used to be such things as landlines, (very long) extension cables and splitters. Having made a successful case to my Mum about my teenage need for privacy, I installed a phone in my bedroom which was then rarely used… The seeming permissiveness of having a phone was overshadowed by constant threats about running up large bills.

I resorted to decorating the phone with a hand-painted homage to Edith Massey, resplendent in her lace-up catsuit from FEMALE TOUBLE (1974). My Edith-phone was copied from VHS cover art the proto home cinema gods had made available to appreciative suburban audiences. The painting raised few eyebrows on the homefront. Presumably this was Mum trading in dignified silences as long as I continued to obey rules about the bills…

The Edith-phone has been lost to time. The VHS art is stored in a parent’s loft somewhere outside of London. My love of John Waters remains.

SINGLE-O EXHIBIT

If you’re going to see just one, I’d recommend either FEMALE TROUBLE (surely John Waters’ CITIZEN KANE?) or DESPERATE LIVING (less well known as it was shot without Divine over a decade before she died). All offer incalculable levels of fun, filth and enjoyment. If you haven’t seen any Waters before, you’re in for a treat with the Prince Charles offering several titles on celluloid. As Cecil B. Demented would say: “The slash and burn of the white-hot metal will brand you forever with the logo of Cecil B. Demented. Wear the privileged scar of cinema sainthood with pride and horniness.”

FULL PROGRAMME

JOHN WATERS SELECTROSPECTIVE screens at The Prince Charles Cinema (04 MAR to 26 JUN 2019).

MULTIPLE MANIACS d. John Waters, 1970 (04 MAR 20:45)

PINK FLAMINGOS 35mm d. John Waters,1972 (16 MAR 21:00)

FEMALE TROUBLE 35mm d. John Waters, 1974 (09 APR 18:15)

DESPERATE LIVING 35mm d. John Waters, 1977 (17 APR 18:10)

POLYESTER d. John Waters, 1981 (23 APR 20:45)

HAIRSPRAY d. John Waters, 1988 (03 MAY 20:45)

CRY BABY 35mm d. John Waters, 1990 (18 MAY 20:45)

SERIAL MOM d. John Waters, 1994 – 25th Anniversary (01 JUN 20:45)

PECKER 35mm d. John Waters, 1998 (10 JUN 18:30)

CECIL B. DEMENTED d. John Waters, 2000 (26 JUN 18:30 – main featured image)

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*THE SMALL PRINT: As accurate as we could make it. Apologies for any errors. Updates & corrections will be made to the online version. Event dates/times are subject to change by the venue/organiser. We try to only list events you can book for at the time of posting: however, some events may still be sold out. Please click quickly! We don’t filter by age/certification: all readers & subscribers should be 18+.