Question of taste: Julie Kelleher

Julie Kelleher, from Carrigaline, Co Cork, is the artistic director at the Everyman Theatre, as well as being a theatre director. She is producing an upcoming production of Juno and the Paycock at the Everyman Theatre, running from February 10–20.

Best recent book: Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.

Best recent film: Carol starring Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara, directed by Todd Haynes. Just gorgeously shot.

Best show/exhibition/gig you’ve seen in recent months: Guy Garvey live at the Olympia.

He’s brilliant, and the tunes were great — but his banter on the night with his two sisters and their husbands, who sat in the stage right box, was gold!

What formats do you access music? I buy CDs, I download from iTunes and also subscribe to Apple Music (migrated from Spotify).

And you can’t beat a good old bit of radio, especially first thing in the morning.

Best piece of music you’ve been listening to lately: Darling Arithmetic by Villagers and Carrie and Lowell by Sufjan Stevens, both of which I love.

And any song that has Sia in the writing credits for a bit of belting along.

First ever piece of music or art or film or theatre that really moved you: That’s a tough one!

There are reports of me bopping in my pram to KC and the Sunshine Band’s ‘Baby Give It Up’ when I was still small enough to be in a pram, so I suppose technically that might count as the first ever piece of music that moved me.

The best gig or show you’ve ever seen: Impossible to pick a show, I think — but gig-wise, it’s a toss-up between seeing Patti Smith for the first time (at Cork X Southwest in 2011), and seeing Bruce Springsteen for the first time when The Rising tour came to the RDS.

Tell us about your TV viewing: Re-watching The Wire with my boyfriend, as he’s never seen it, it’s still superb.

We watch a lot of Discovery’s ‘reality’ show, Gold Rush, about mining operations in the Yukon.

My personal trashy favourite is Nashville.

The music is completely brilliant in that show though — T-Bone Burnett oversaw the music for the first series.

Radio listening: Lately tuning in to podcasts: The New Yorker Radio Hour (a friend got me on to that one because there was a Patti Smith interview in one episode).

And Late Date on RTÉ Radio 1 is hard to beat too.

Name three of your heroes in modern theatre: Anne Clarke, fellow Cork woman and producer at Landmark Productions for her indefatigability and vision.

Lian Bell, theatre designer for sparking the #WakingTheFeminists movement in late 2015 in response to the Abbey Theatre’s male-dominated 2016 programme Waking The Nation.

Judy Hegarty Lovett and Conor Lovett from Gare St Lazare Players Ireland, who are current artists in residence at the Everyman, for their capacity to serve up superb storytelling and theatre with the sparest of staging.

Your best celebrity encounter: It certainly wasn’t my best moment, but I did get to meet Nile Rodgers in 2010 when Chic played the Savoy.

As a lifelong disco aficionado, I couldn’t contain my inner fan girl, which I am retrospectively mortified by — but he was so lovely and sound in response to me being a total dork.

Most expensive item of clothing you’ve ever bought: Well, the highest value item in my wardrobe had a pricetag of €400, but I got it for €200 in the sale — a leopard print faux fur by Sonia Rykiel.

It only really comes out for special occasions.

Tech habits: iPhone 6 — for almost everything except eating, sleeping and washing.

Seriously, I have a problem.

Though I’d rather email from my laptop at work, or at home, especially if there’s any amount of typing to be done.

The best thing of all that my iPhone does is connect via Bluetooth to my stereo at home, so I can play stuff loud and sing along.

Unsung hero — individual or group you think don’t get the profile/praise they deserve: The Everyman front-of-house volunteer staff.

Under the stewardship of our wonderful front-of-house managers, we have roughly 70 volunteer ushers, who run our shop, take tickets and show patrons to their seats.

Every Christmas they give up their holiday time, as it is the busiest time of all at the theatre with the panto showing twice a day, to man their stations.

We quite literally couldn’t do it without them.

So I’m delighted to be able to draw attention to their hard work here.

You are queen for a day — what’s your first decree? Abolish the monarchy.