YOU couldn't ask for a better-sounding theatre boss than Simon Stallworthy, but the man entrusted with putting bums on seats at Durham's Gala Theatre claims to have no illusions about the tough task ahead of him.

A week into the job, the 44-year-old agrees to press interviews with the condition that his immediate boss, Tracey Ingle, head of cultural services at Durham City Council, which owns the £14m building, sits in to field questions about the venue's controversial history.

The Bolton-based new man is reluctant to be cast in the role of trouble-shooter, despite having saved the Lancashire town's 400-seat Octagon Theatre from financial crisis in 1999.

A more telling question is why the script editor of TV's number one soap, Coronation Street, should give up the job to take on a 510-seat venue in a slightly less fragile state than the Octagon.

He says: "I've worked in theatre all my life after leaving university. Then I got the feeling that I didn't know what it was like to work anywhere else and that was why I went into the BBC and working on Coronation Street, where it was a similar discipline to what you're putting on a stage using basic story-telling.

"I don't want to sound too arty but I decided I wanted to go back to live theatre because this is in your blood and it's a place where you are committed to live performances."

As a theatre director and writer, that would certainly make some sense, particularly as the fortunes of the Gala seem about to change.

Having already parted company with two theatre managers in a blaze of poor publicity, last year Durham City Council brought in the expertise of Darlington Arts, from the neighbouring borough council, and now Tracey Ingle claims that the Gala is keeping to its budget.

Questioned if £650,000 is enough to run a theatre, she responds: "Yes, we've proven it. Within the last 12 months we've run within that budget and in the next 12 months we'll run within that budget. It's a good generous settlement for the Gala. Now it's time to draw a line in the sand and move on."

If Mr Stallworthy has any anxieties about his line in the sand remaining at 2004-5 prices then he's keeping them quiet.

He says: "From my point of view, I wouldn't be here if I didn't think that £650,000 was a workable, achievable budget. I don't think the Gala is any different to other theatres I've run, if you bring in a loss-making show you've got problems."

On his Octagon Theatre success, he adds: "When I arrived at the Octagon it had gone through a management restructuring and the previous chief executives had gone. I was taking over a new building and a new business plan. The similar thing there to here was the huge will to make the theatre work. That was there at the Octagon and in the first week here, the most obvious thing that keeps coming across is that huge determination and will to make the building achieve."

He talks about finding an energy, determination and focus to move forward and intends to do this with a vision of themed events and festivals to match Gala's programme to its users. For example, the recently announced Vietnamese Water Puppets in June (24-26) might, in future, generate Far East film showings.

Mr Stallworthy is also keen on developing an education outreach officer's role at Gala because he feels the venue "has everything it needs to function effectively".

He sees his contract as open-ended and, perhaps wisely, dodges an opportunity to criticise previous managers who appear to have crumbled under the pressure of keeping the theatre within budget or out of the glare of unfavourable headlines. The diplomatic new man at the helm merely raises an eyebrow over such a well-built project having got itself into difficulties in the first place.

Meanwhile, the new manager is looking for a house in Durham City for his partner, the novelist Janette Jenkins, and eight-year-old daughter Emily and is keeping his writing hat on with a project about Dick Kerr's Ladies, the post-war Preston women's team who regularly played in front of 50,000 fans. They were so popular that the Football Association ended the excitement by banning women from playing at professional grounds.

On April 21, the Gala hosts BBC1's Question Time. There's unlikely to be an empty seat in the house, thanks to the power of TV and the forthcoming General Election. But question time for Simon Stallworthy has only just begun.