An acclaimed international theatre director, prolific novelist and committed gay rights activist, Brighton’s Neil Bartlett is not a man with a lot of spare time. But when he gets a few free hours, he tells Nione Meakin, he’s likely to be found glued to Mad Men, swooning at the sound of Maria Callas or taking life lessons from The Lion King.

Will you briefly outline your career so far?

It’s tricky to make it brief, but here goes: I started out as a performance artist in the heady days of the early 1980s in London. By 1994 I was running my own theatre, the Lyric Hammersmith. Right now I’m working freelance for, among others, the National Theatre (where I’ve got a new play on this October) and Opera North. Oh, and I’ve published 23 books in the past 22 years, including three novels, the last of which, Skin Lane, was nominated for the Costa Award.

Tell us a little about the work you’ve made for this year’s Brighton Festival and Fringe…

The Festival and Fringe have given me the chance to make two very different kinds of Brighton night out this year. The Girl I Left Behind Me, the show I devised and am directing at the Theatre Royal is going to be the perfect match of material and venue I think – a dozen gorgeous old songs from the heyday of the British music hall, but given a delicious and very modern (not to mention cross-dressed!) twist by Jessica Walker. She has an amazing voice, halfway between opera and cabaret. Plus it’s an opportunity to come back to my local theatre, where I haven’t had a show on since my Romeo and Juliet for the RSC toured there.

The new Pink Fringe programme at the Marlborough is something I really wanted to support, as I think it’s important there’s a space for new gay and queer work at festival time – this is Brighton, after all! The Literary Bent event was a chance to share the stage with living legend Bette Bourne, who is a truly great performer as well as being a great friend.

What made you first think “I want to do that”?

I was lucky enough to grow up in a town with a theatre – Chichester – and my parents took me to see all the shows there when I was growing up. But I think the moment I really fell in love with it all was when the curtain went up on Phillip Prowse’s production of Chinchilla, about the life of Diaghilev, up at the infamous Glasgow Citizens Theatre in 1977. I’d never seen anything like it, it was so beautiful – and so dangerous. A tip: book for his revival of Pygmalion with Rupert Everett at Chichester this summer – it should be amazing.

What performance will always stay in your memory?

Things I’ll never forget: Pina Bausch dancing Cafe Muller for the last time; Siouxsie Sioux singing Helter Skelter live in 1981; John Lithgow making his last exit as my Malvolio at the RSC.

What theatre do you most enjoy visiting or performing in?

I’m a sucker for gilt and velvet – and the more faded, the better. I loved working at the Lyric Hammersmith in London and I love the Theatre Royal in Brighton, which was designed by the same great Victorian architect, Frank Matcham. He knew exactly how to bring a performer and an audience close together – that’s what makes those places magic.

What would you say was your guilty pleasure?

I’m not sure if I want to admit to this in print, but I rewatch The Lion King every time I’m stuck in bed with a really bad cold. Timon and Pumbaa – the warthog and meerkat double-act – are my role-models in almost any crisis.

What is your favourite record?

The first record I remember listening to was Cilla Black’s Anyone Who Had A Heart and the first album I remember saving up my paper round money for and buying was Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust. I had no idea what it all meant but I quickly grew into it.

Favourite film?

Oh, don’t make me choose! It would have to be either the full-length restored version of George Cukor’s A Star is Born or Terence Davies’ The Long Day Closes. I like a good cry.

TV programme?

My husband and I are currently glued to the sofa catching up on the first three series of Mad Men. And I miss The Bill – all those handsome young men in uniform having emotional crises... what’s not to like?

Album?

There’s a live recording of Maria Callas singing Bellini’s La Sonnambula at the Edinburgh Festival in 1957, with Leonard Berstein conducting, which is one of the most exciting live recordings ever made. It’s my favourite opera – and we had it played at our civil partnership ceremony, so it’s a very special piece of music to me.

What’s your favourite song?

Patsy Cline singing Crazy always cracks me up. As does The Magnetic Fields stunning It’s Only Time – especially the last line.

What are you reading at the moment?

At the moment I’m deep in James Baldwin’s Giovanni’s Room, which is a truly amazing blast from the past – a black American daring to imagine an alternative life for himself as part of the white, queer underworld of 1950s Paris. Extraordinary man; extraordinary, groundbreaking writer. I’m making an adaptation of it for Radio 3 this autumn.

* Jessica Walker sings The Girl I Left Behind Me at the Theatre Royal tonight – tickets on 01273 709709 or at www.brightonfestival.org.