GATESHEAD-BORN Nicola Candlish has far more responsibilities than many other company stage managers. The woman in charge of bringing English Touring Opera (ETO) to Durham Gala Theatre on Monday and Tuesday also has the ETO's recently-acquired Olivier award to include in the list of props, costumes and production equipment.

"Well, the things is I first had to get him home from the ceremony in London when I didn't have a bag or a case to use. Now he's got a very highly-quality box, made out of cardboard with the spare fabric for the show packed around," she jokes about the award which ETO landed for its productions of King Priam, which is being performed at Durham, and Paul Bunyan.

King Priam, by Michael Tippett, is a 1962 opera based on Homer's Iliad. "Most tragedies are the same. They're about sex or death and this had got both and its visually very stunning with lots of fighting, particularly when two cast members battle using antlers," says Candlish.

The lesser-known King Priam, which runs on Tuesday, comes after a Monday performance of Mozart favourite The Magic Flute.

Taking the prolific 60-strong ETO touring company – which has an orchestra of 30 – to 70 venues has been a part of Candlish's life for the past six years. "We go to the places where the other opera companies don't, and we usually have problems fitting the set on the stage, the orchestra in the pit or the people in the dressing rooms. We move twice a week and we do at least two operas a venue. We start at 9am to put the set up and we do the stage management at 3pm and the cast come on at 5pm and do the show. Then we take it all out again. It's mad. It's a great life, but you can face great challenges where something has worn out or been broken in the middle of nowhere," she says.

She is looking forward to a return to Durham where she gain degrees in music and electroacoustics.

"I usually got and visit the university when I'm in the area because I'm still a member of the senior common room and I do some mentoring of students who want to to work in theatre. I've been to the Gala before because I was there as a student not long after it opened. I ended up in London and through a random series of events I ended up administrating in opera because a friend of a friend required someone to answer the phone for a couple of days a week. I got talking to stage management and started working in the West End and touring, although this is, hopefully, my last tour because I'm joining the Royal Academy of Music," says Candlish. She will be company manager for student performances and laughs about part of her duty being to ensure performance discipline. Part of looking after the students will be ensuring that she spots when someone is struggling or out of sorts before it becomes a big issue.

"In the professional world, some companies dock pay if a singer doesn't turn up on time. You do get the odd occasion where a person is stuck in traffic, but most singers want to be prepared and warmed up. The thing that shines through is that the ETO is a very happy company," she says.

Currently, one of Candlish's main headaches is replacing singers with a cover singer. The two will be matched vocally but one person might be 5ft 2ins and the replacement 6ft. "So you get the made dash at 11am when someone is off and the director wants to rehearse them in and the wardrobe may have to buy a totally new costume. Sometimes you get a situation where more than one person is off and you end up with a cover of a cover and it's always an achievement.

"But I haven't managed to lose the Olivier yet. It travels in its special box next to the chairs for The Magic Flute. I do tuck him at night to make sure he's warm," jokes Candlish.

The Magic Flute, Monday. King Priam, Tuesday. Both performances 7.30pm. Tickets: £10 to £26. Box Office: 03000-266600 galadurham.co.uk