John Waters in the flesh

Director John Waters. Photo / Getty Images

John Waters, the legendary American cult director, raconteur and writer is heading to town for a live show.

Waters' stage monologue is titled The Filthy World and draws from his latest book Role Models, a volume its author describes as "a self-help group for people who don't need self-help. It's to try to make you feel good about being nuts, which I think is important these days."

As a director, Waters started out in the late 60s in his hometown of Baltimore delivering a line in transgressive high-schlock features that became progressively mainstream in their content and casting.

They included Mondo Trasho (1969), Pink Flamingos (1970), Polyester (1981), Cry-Baby (1990) and Hairspray (1988).

Hairspray became a Broadway production, and was remade as a Hollywood musical in 2007.

Waters will be on stage at Wellington's Opera House on Monday October 31 and Auckland's Civic on Wednesday November 2.

- TimeOut