Stage is set for Ludo

COMPARE and contrast 2001 and 1991 at York Theatre Royal. Ludo Keston starts his tenure as chief executive with a Studio performance space newly opened; a foyer refurbishment in tune with the cappuccino culture now percolating through the city centre; and the theatre's financial health as rude as some of the repertory productions this autumn, not least the adults-only Live Bed Show and The Blue Room.

Ten years ago, in June 1991, Elizabeth Jones took up the newly-created post of Theatre Royal executive director with the main-house stage shrouded in darkness; the theatre fabric reliant on a cap-in-hand appeal to the public for restoration and modernisation; the autumn programming under fire for being too safe; the finances bailed out by funding bodies. A three-year business plan was in place to chart a way forward to commercial prosperity.

How times have changed for the better, as Mr Keston acknowledges: "It's a fantastically exciting time to be starting here. This theatre has proved itself to be one of the best managed in financial terms, and in the last ten years Elizabeth Jones has turned its fortunes around, leaving me with a wonderful legacy and I look forward to taking that forward.

"To be coming to a city that has the confidence to add another theatre space is quite extraordinary when you consider that theatres have been closing in other cities."

Mr Keston, a neat, undemonstrative figure in his blue shirt, dark blue jacket, tie and spectacles, will not be taking a radical brush to the Theatre Royal, where any cobwebs have been removed over the past decade. Instead, he will be looking to maximise the potential already in place.

"With the new Studio, for example, our intention is to use it for youth and other community work, as well as repertory plays, so that everyone is catered for, and that's something that really excites me," he says.

For a role model, he looks at the community work conducted at the New Vic, not least projects involving the probation services and social services.

"What we were able to do there was prove how valuable a theatre could be not only in providing a great night out but also in providing other services which act as a conduit into the community, and become a focus of inward investment," Mr Keston says.

"That engagement with the community should take up as many hours of the day as possible and not only be when people might want to come to see a play or a concert," says Mr Keston. "Theatre, for me, is not just about nice evenings out for nice people."

In his role as chief executive - the name change from executive director is merely cosmetic - he will be as prudent financially as his predecessor. "I see our public funding not as subsidy but as investment and I'm determined to get the best return for that investment," he says. "I have to make sure the public monies coming into this theatre are properly managed and that we are publicly accountable to the people of York, and can show we're running the Theatre Royal as prudently as possible.

"The good feeling is knowing the building blocks are in place for the future and there's such good will towards us in the city."

Elizabeth Jones used to say York Theatre Royal should be business-minded but not business-directed, a sentiment that finds favour with Ludo Keston.

"I worked as a producer in the West End, and the real difference between a subsidised theatre such as the Theatre Royal and a commercial one is that the subsidised theatre seeks to use its money to the best effect; a commercial theatre uses it to make as much money as possible."

Mr Keston will be working closely with artistic director Damian Cruden, seeking to balance artistic aspiration and financial requirement. "You can't run a theatre as an autocracy; it has to be a team enterprise, and what we both understand is that you can't make a financial decision without it impacting on the artistic side and vice versa," he says.

"Certainly I'll be working with Damian on the programming and that was something I was heavily involved in at the New Vic. I come from that background; I'm in theatre because I love it: my mother runs a drama school in Maidenhead. I've never seen myself doing anything else but theatre."

Encouragingly for those seeking diversity rather than caution, he considers the sexy autumn mainhouse season of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, Christopher Hampton's Les Liaisons Dangereuses and David Hare's The Blue Room to be adventurous rather than avant garde.

"I'm not an accountant," says Mr Keston. "However, I have to bring to the practitioners the absolute understanding that if the money is not in the bank, you can't spend it. There'll be times when difficult decisions have to be made but, as the administrator, I have to ensure the environment is the best for the practitioners to work in, and I'm happy to say that the only time you'll see the broker's men in this theatre is in the pantomime."

Mention of pantomime inevitably turns thoughts to evergreen panto dame Berwick Kaler, the theatre's golden goose. "We hope Berwick has no plans to hang up his boots for a long time yet," says Mr Keston, and no wonder. His favourite theatre is "a full one".

Fact File:

Name: Ludo Keston

Occupation: New chief executive, York Theatre Royal. Predecessor Elizabeth Jones left in May to go freelance

Age: 42

Born: London

Family: Married to Fiona, with three daughters, Harriet, 15, Alice, 13, Cordelia, seven

New home: Boston Spa

Previous job: General manager, New Vic Theatre, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, for four years

Theatre training: Studied lighting design at London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art

Theatre work: Commercial producer in London, notably for Stephen Daldry's award-winning production of JB Priestley's An Inspector Calls. Fifteen years at Royal Shakespeare Company, with responsibility for national and international tours. Also worked with English Shakespeare Company, Manchester Royal Exchange, Royal National Theatre, Royal Court and Young Vic

Not a lot of people know: Wife Fiona, originally from Fulford, used to dress wigs for the Theatre Royal

Like mother, like son: Ludo's mother teaches drama in Maidenhead. Past pupils include Kate Winslet

Favourite theatre: "A full one"

Favourite performance: Helen Mirren, The Duchess Of Malfi, one wet afternoon, Manchester Royal Exchange, 1980

Updated: 10:34 Tuesday, September 11, 2001