AH, nostalgia! Actor John Waters will be at the Canberra Theatre again in December with his famous John Lennon production, “Looking Through a Glass Onion”, which includes 31 Lennon songs.

I saw it there in its first season and have never forgotten his quiet rendition of “Beautiful Boy”, written for Lennon’s son Sean. Waters loves it, too.

Waters denies he is an expert on The Beatles, but he knows all about Lennon, abandoned by both his parents and dumped with his Aunt Mimi.

“But he worked his way through it, in his songs you see both the tenderness and the sorrow,” says Waters.

There are also angry songs in “Looking through a Glass Onion”, Waters says, “though the feeling of tenderness is always trying to get out… it’s hard to give love when you’ve not received it as a child.”

Lennon conducted his therapy on a public stage. “It was a kind of primal scream that can be quite shocking, but then there’s also the sense of humour.”

“Sexy Sadie”, about his disillusionment with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, is a case in point.

And The Beatles? “George and John were very close… it was the relationship with Paul that was the problem, because they loved each other.”

Waters himself grew up in the middle of British rock, performing in the band, The Riots, from the mid-to-late 1960s before moving to Australia in 1968.

So what about young people today? Why do we place The Beatles on a pedestal? He is suspicious that “our children” don’t fully understand what was going on at the time.

And while we’re talking about children, Waters is very proud of his. There are adult kids Rebecca and Ivan from an earlier marriage, but now with his third wife Zoe, there are Archie, Gloria and Rusty, all under 9.

“A lot of things change over time,” Waters philosophises. “I’ve stopped smoking pot and given up all the excesses in my life…I feel rejuvenated and energised so I like doing this tour.”

“Looking Through a Glass Onion”, Canberra Theatre, 8pm, December 9, bookings to 6275 2700.