Evanne Kilgallon - Mad Hatter Q&A: Biggest thrill? "Reuniting with long distance friends for one wild night"

Who would be the last person you would invite to your birthday party?
My enemies shall remain nameless and powerless.

Who would be the first person you would invite to your birthday party?
I’m actually planning my birthday party at the moment, my boyfriend (David) is the first name on the list.

Favourite saying?
Today is a great day to have a great day.

Favourite record?
Symphony Of Lungs BBC Proms At The Royal Albert Hall by Florence + the Machine.

Favourite book?
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë.

Favourite film?
Billy Elliot or Withnail & I.

Favourite author?
I don’t have one. My favourite playwrights are Martin McDonagh and Marina Carr.

Favourite actor / actress?
Eddie Redmayne. The variety in his roles is what I aspire towards. I saw him as the MC in Cabaret on Broadway last year, enchanting.

Favourite musician?
I go through phases, at the moment I can’t stop listening to Martha Wainwright. ‘Proserpina’ and ‘Bloody Motherfucking Asshole’ are strong favourites.

Most embarrassing moment of your life?
You’ll have to take me for dinner before I share that with you.

Favourite food/drink/stimulant?
Banana on toast with peanut butter and coffee, lots of it.

TV programme?
New Girl is my current comfort show. “I hope you like feminist rants, because that’s kind of my thing.”

Favourite TV personality?
Graham Norton. I feel like I would get along with him.

Favourite item of clothing?
I have a deep love for collecting second-hand pieces. Most precious are an oversized green coat that I call The Countess Markievicz and a brooch with purple gems that belonged to my grandmother Tess.

Most desirable date?
Spending the day with my boyfriend eating pastries, drinking coffee, browsing galleries and thrift shops and finishing the day at a play or gig, and neither of us gets tired. And also, everything is free.

Favourite method of relaxation?
I love a massage. But I have to go for 90 minutes because I spend the first hour convincing myself it’s okay to relax.

If you weren’t pursuing your present career, what other career might you have chosen?
Fashion designer/seamstress. I would love to be able to make my own elaborate clothes.

Biggest thrill?
Reuniting with long distance friends for one wild night.

Biggest disappointment?
Our government and most major governments at the moment.

Your concept of heaven?
To be able to fly all my friends and family out to some gorgeous seaside destination for a Mamma Mia-esque holiday. Sea-swimming, sangria and smiles all around.

Mamma Mia

Your concept of hell?
To be stuck in a pub full of people with jobs I don’t understand making small talk.

What would be your dying words?
“Don’t worry, I’ll see you in the next life.”

Greatest ambition?
To become a world class actor.

Period of history you’d most like to have lived in and why?
I think I would like to have hung around with the Bright Young Things in London in the 1920s.

If you weren’t a human being, which animal would you have chosen to be?
Some sort of bird, I’d like to eat berries off bushes and see what the world looks like from up there.

If you were told that the world was ending tomorrow morning, how would you react/what would you do?
Gather everyone I love in the one place to eat, drink, sing and say all the things we are too embarrassed to say now.

Your nominee for the world’s best-dressed person?
Cher or Florence Welch.

Cher. Photo: An Le

Favourite term of abuse?
Gobshite.

Biggest fear?
Making the wrong decisions and living with regret.

Humanity’s most useful invention?
Pen and paper.

• Small Town, Big Story is available now on Sky Max and NOW.