Dillie Keane

In 1983 she founded the comedy cabaret trio Fascinating Aida. In 1989 she disbanded the group to pursue her solo career; the group later reformed.

They bring The Cheap Flights tour to the Theatre Royal Brighton on Sunday, October 16. For tickets, call 0844 8717650

Which film star/musician/ artist/writer do you admire?

I’d have to say Brian Friel, the Irish playwright.

I’ve never done Chekhov, but Friel seems to be in that same tradition of examining people’s lives through what they don’t say, as opposed to what they do.

Which TV programme couldn’t you live without?

I’m not particularly a telly watcher, but I couldn’t live without News At Ten. This annoys me, as I used to get so tired of my parents always insisting on turning over to watch the news, and here I am... oh well!

Do you remember the first record you bought – what was it, and where did you buy it?

It was an EP of Renata Tebaldi, the great Italian soprano, singing arias from Verdi and Puccini.

I was not only quite highbrow as a child, but I took great pleasure in being more highbrow than my mother (who was anything but).

Tell us about any guilty pleasures lurking in your CD or film collections…

Oh, I’ve got lots and lots of guilty pleasures. George van Dusen singing The Yodelling Chinaman and other yodelling hits; an early French folk song including cowbell ringing; the score of Taras Bulba (a very silly movie with Yul Brynner); The Howard Keel Collection. Ooh, there’s lots more too – I love cheesy music.

Do you have a favourite film...

It’s A Wonderful Life – it superbly illustrates the power of small actions to make the world a better place.

How about a favourite book?

Independent People, by Halldor Laxness, the Icelandic writer. I read it on tour and the first 200 pages nearly killed me.

Then I suddenly got into it and it was a revelation. It’s about one man’s solitary trudge against the Icelandic landscape, which stands as a metaphor for life and also for his own very difficult character. It illustrates that love and contentment don’t necessarily come from romantic or conjugal love and that it can come by surprise, and much later in life.

In other words, you’ve got to keep going.

Is there a song or individual piece of music you always come back to?

I love cabaret music, particularly the songs of the Weimar Republic.

I listen obsessively to The Comedian Harmonists, who were really big international stars until 1933, when Hitler forbade Jews from working with non-Jews. You’ll never hear harmonies better sung, and what is truly unbelievable is that they recorded in one take, with just one microphone – astounding singing.

What are you reading at the moment?

Last night I finished When A Crocodile Eats The Sun by Peter Godwin.

It was highly recommended by a friend, and it’s a very personal, yet properly journalistic account of the recent descent of Zimbabwe into chaos.

He tells the story through his visits to his parents in Harare, and it really is shocking and hugely moving reading.

I think I need something light next!

Tell me about a live music/ theatre/cinema experience that sticks in your memory...

I saw the Theatre du Soleil from Paris twice in my life – once at the Papal Palace in Avignon doing Henry VI Part I, and once in Bradford doing Les Atrides, which was four Greek plays. All the shows were in French, which I don't really speak much of, but the acting and the mise en scene were so electrifyingly brilliant, they rank as the best things I have ever seen. Ever.

Is there a book/record/film/play/ person that made you want to do what you do now?

A man called Chris Meehan in Dublin sat down at the piano in Freshers’ Week when I first went to university in Dublin. He was a small man with a small moustache, and he played and sang Hard Hearted Hannah. It was wonderful, funny and spellbinding. The crowd went mad. I thought, “I could do that”.

If you get a spare 30 minutes, how are you most likely to spend it?

Doing a bit of cooking or gardening while listening to the radio, mainly. I’m quite a domestic goddess, you know!