This latter aspect has struck a chord with Hilton. Born in Oldham in 1970, his was bitten by the bug doing his first school play, Oliver Twist, at 13, and was taken under the wing of a drama teacher called Colin Snell, who Hilton says ways a “visionary” who once, “remortgaged his house to take us to the Edinburgh Festival, that’s how devoted he was.” Hilton calls himself a “dreamer, I was then, and still am now,” with this being in the most creative sense. He’s always been attuned to the class system and representation, and whose stories are being told on stage, and the opportunities for audiences to go see those stories. He’s been involved in saving the Oldham Coliseum – a crucial training ground for him as a young actor – knowing how important these spaces are for allowing people to see and be seen.
