IN Character

by Ara Jansen



Actor and musician John Waters has had a busy year doing all the things he loves the most on stage and screen



John Waters never had a plan to rule the stage or the screen. Somehow, things just fell into place and at 62, the actor and musician has become one of Australia’s much-loved veterans.
He’s back on the road next month touring with Looking Through a Glass Onion, his stage salute to the life and music of John Lennon.
“It’s a very enjoyable show and it’s very intimate with the audience because I talk right to them,” says John.




“I never tire of live performance because it is so alive and different each time. It’s an opportunity to be bigger than life on stage, because otherwise I’m not a hugely theatrical person. I’m a family person with five-year-old twins, an eight-year-old and grandchildren. They continually fascinate me.”
It has been a year of high-visibility for the guy who among other things spent almost two decades on Playschool. John not only released his debut solo album, Cloudland,




but returned to our television screens in the second season of the Logie-winning series Offspring. He plays Nina Proudman’s dad Darcy, a real estate agent who falls into bed with a lot of different women.
“He’s got a good heart and he’s well-meaning,” John says fondly. “He succumbs to women but he’s a good-natured man who loves his family even if he can’t hold a marriage together.




The Proudmans are an out-there family and they have a lot of sex while trying to deal with the issues of their professional lives. Darcy has a positive twist on everything; he doesn’t see problems, just solutions which makes him a nice character to play.”
John says his role in Offspring has also taken him to a different audience from his previous three year long role in All Saints.



“I think the stories are things everyone can relate to. It catches a 30-something female audience as a chic flick, but there’s plenty for men to watch too.
“It’s also great to be able to enjoy this new lease on life every time something goes to air on television. It seems to be the place most people notice you, compared to the stage.”



As a result it seems that a whole new audience is enjoying Looking Through A Glass Onion, which has started to draw much younger crowds, not just aging Beatles fans. They’re now bringing their kids and grandkids too.
“I’m happy to be enjoying a renaissance, if that’s what people’s perception is. In the meantime I’ve remained true to the fact that I’m going to do what I do regardless. Plus I still get to play the guy that gets the girls.”



Looking Through a Glass Onion is at Queens Park Theatre, Geraldton on October 5, Bunbury Entertainment Centre on October 6, Mandurah Performing Arts Centre on October 7 and on October 8 at the Astor Theatre in Mt Lawley.