It has taken five years to get from the drawing board to reality, but the region's newest theatre finally opens later this month. Nick Morrison meets the team in charge of making it a success.

WHEN Rob Flower invited people living near the new theatre to have a special tour of the venue, he was expecting a bit of flak. After all, it had been a building site for two years, and its neighbours had been forced to put up with a fair amount of disruption. And when the number who took up the invitation was more than double that anticipated, he braced himself for a long night.

But not only did the reaction at that December gathering take him by surprise, it has also given him every reason to feel confident of making the North-East's newest arts complex a success.

"I thought I was going to get complaints about the noise and the dust," says the general manager of Durham's Gala Theatre. "We thought we were going to get about 120 but more than 300 turned up, and they all said how good it was to be in here and wanted to know how they could get involved. Some of the first people to join our supporters' club were people who have overlooked the building site."

And this reaction is not just confined to those living in the immediate vicinity. "I arrived last summer, and one of the first calls I took was from a local company wanting to become a sponsor," Rob says. "People have been queuing up to support the Gala, and that shows a level of support I have never encountered anywhere else in the country."

The 45-year-old left one of the most famous concert venues in the world to come to Durham. As director of operations at the Royal Albert Hall, he was responsible for staging prestigious events, making sure the frequent Royal visits ran smoothly and running the front-of-house operation. But he insists it did not take him long to decide to swap all that for a new venue.

"I'm originally from Newcastle so it was easy to decide to come back to the North-East. I left the North to go into the theatre, and worked in the theatre for many years before going to the Hall.

"When the opportunity came to return to the theatre, and to the North-East, and to a brand new venue, which probably only happens once in a lifetime, I had to take it. It is an opportunity to really set the standards in a venue without a previous track record, without having to take into account anybody else's way of doing things. We are able to make our own benchmarks, and set the standards we believe should be set in a venue like this."

The £14m Gala Theatre is in the heart of Durham City, built on the site of a car park, a bold glass and stone design with extensive views across the River Wear. The main theatre's 510 seats include about 300 in the stalls which can be dropped through the floor on air-powered wagons and tucked out of the way, to create a 600-capacity standing auditorium for concerts. The floor can be levelled with the stage to provide a banqueting hall for up to 350 people.

A giant screen cinema seats 116 people, with a screen 45ft high by 70ft across. One step down from the IMAX, it is one of just four giant screens in the country, and for its first three months will show a re-mastered version of Walt Disney's Beauty and the Beast, as well as regular showings of a specially-commissioned short film about the history of Durham and its surroundings. The projector will also be adapted to show conventional 35mm films later in the year.

But the Gala's success will rely not just on getting bums on seats. Its caf and bar will be open seven days a week, and its 100-cover restaurant will cater not just for theatre-goers. The restaurant's spring-loaded dance floor means it can also be used for performances.

Management of the city council-owned venue has been passed to The Entertainment Team, also responsible for the front-of-house operations at the Old Vic and the Playhouse in London, and in charge of booking acts for the Gala.

Their approach is to provide as wide a range as possible, with the result that the Gala's spring season ranges from an Alan Ayckbourn triple bill to an Evening with Paul Daniels, via Durham Amateur Operatic Society putting on Me and My Girl and jazz saxophonist Michael Brecker, as well as comedy and children's shows.

"By the end of the year, we will have produced as diverse a programme as possible," says Mike Power, The Entertainment Team's operations director. "It is fundamental to the business plan that we attract as wide a range of audiences as possible. We don't want to be elitist."

The Gala team is aware that the most recent experience for a new arts venue in the region is not promising, with the closure of the £9.5m Stockton Arc in November, less than two years after it opened its doors. But Mike says they have done their research, and are confident they can provide what the audience wants.

"We're pretty determined to make this a true community centre," he says. "The Gala will hopefully bring a more exciting programme of arts to the North-East. It is surprising that a city like Durham didn't have a theatre, and the fact the box office was busy from the moment it opened, shows there is a desire for one.

"And by putting the caf in the entrance, we want to break down the barriers about crossing the threshold. A lot of people are terrified about coming to the theatre: they think it is going to cost them a lot of money and they're not wearing the right clothes."

Although the Gala's first show is Alan Ayckbourn's GamePlan, on January 15, its official launch is on January 20, with a concert by Westlife in the theatre, which is a sell-out, although it will be beamed live to a big top in the grounds of the neighbouring Durham Sixth Form College.

The Northern Echo is the main paper sponsor for the launch, and for the Gala throughout the year, putting its support for arts and culture in the region into practice. Gala marketing manager Claire Straughan says: "We're delighted to have The Northern Echo's support for what is a very exciting addition to the arts scene in the North-East."

And Rob Flower is in no doubt of the potential of the Gala to make a difference to the region's cultural life. "It has an excellent stage, excellent acoustics, excellent technical facilities, and it is an amazing building," he says.

"What we're trying to do is give everyone in Durham and the surrounding area a reason to come into the Gala. If, 12 months from now, people walk past and say that is not for them, they have never been in there, that will probably be a failing on our part.

"But we will have a very wide range of events, hopefully covering most tastes. It is not just for culture vultures. If there was a formula for pleasing punters, all of us in the business would be millionaires, but we have got to give people a reason to come here."

When he left the Albert Hall, Rob was just one rung off the top spot, of chief executive. But he sees no reason why he should regret taking a chance on a new venue.

"I'm very optimistic. Everyone you talk to is very upbeat about the whole project," he says. "The Albert Hall is probably one of the best-known buildings in the world and one of the most exciting venues in the world. The challenge here is to start from nothing, and make it the Albert Hall of the North."

*Details of events and tickets at the Gala Theatre are available from the box office, on 0191-383 0100.