DIRECTOR Ian Dickens is looking forward to an indulgent summer.

"It's the great thing about being a director," he said. "I get to pick the plays I like."

Four of his most recent choices will be entertaining audiences at Darlington's Civic Theatre over the coming months as he presents the fifth annual summer repertory season.

Visiting the theatre last week to launch the four-play series, Dickens was accompanied by actors Scott Wright from Coronation Street, Hi-De-Hi's Paul Shane, and Tina Hall from Family Affairs, who will appear in the final play of the season, the political comedy Out of Order.

"When I'm choosing plays I always try to get a mixture and find a balance that will bring in the audiences each year," said Dickens. "The whole point of the season is to enjoy theatre, so I don't want to pick anything that's going to offend anyone. I want plays that are going to give audiences a great night out and maybe attract some people who haven't been before."

The season opens on June 15 with Noel Coward's Blithe Spirit, a ghostly comedy set in the 1940s starring Judy Cornwell and David Griffin from Keeping up Appearances.

Cricket comedy Outside Edge follows on June 22 starring EastEnders actor Craig Fairbrass, before David Griffin returns for the classic Victorian ghost story The Turn of the Screw from June 29.

Out of Order rounds up the season from July 6 and Tina Hall, playing an unfaithful wife tempted by a junior Government minister, is looking forward to the challenges posed by stage comedies.

"There's always that buzz of doing it live and the more theatre I do, the more I want to do," she said. "The timing is so crucial with comedy and it's a skill all of its own. It's like passing a relay baton around the stage. If you get it wrong, it can throw off everyone else and the joke falls flat."

Veteran actor Paul Shane agrees. "TV and theatre demand a totally different approach, especially in comedy" he said. "A blink of an eye in front of a camera is like a double somersault on stage and with TV you can always say, 'let's do it again'."

Another crucial difference the actors agree on is the longevity of television performances, which can loiter persistently, outlasting seasons of theatre appearances.

Scott Wright is confronted daily by reminders of his days as Coronation Street's Sam the stripper.

"It's three or four years since I left Coronation Street," he said. "But everywhere I go - on a night out, to Sainsbury's, wherever - someone will shout out, 'get your kit off'. It never goes away and everyone thinks it's the first time you've heard it."

He's prepared to accept that his current role won't help him escape the past any sooner, as he is called on to bear some flesh in the role of jealous husband.

Paul Shane continues to be recognised from his Hi-di-Hi appearances. He said: "It was just good old-fashioned British comedy. Thanks to satellite TV we've now got a whole new generation of fans who weren't even thought of when the series went off the air in 1988. TV is such a powerful medium, I had three people shouting Hi-de-Hi as I walked to the theatre today."

The actors, who all hail from the North, are looking forward to performing Out of Order in front of a North-East audience. Paul Shane said: "I've worked in the South a lot, but audiences there look at comedy in a totally different way. Some jokes that go down a storm in the North just fall completely flat down there, so we're really looking forward to the reception we can get up here."