D’Oyly Carte is back. Magical words, undoubtedly, for fans of a company whose name is synonymous with Gilbert and Sullivan. This historic company ran for 107 years until its much-publicised closure in 1982. A rebirth followed in 1988, with the company enjoying some successful West End runs and national tours until it hit the skids in 2003.

Ten years on, D’Oyly Carte has re-surfaced to put on a fresh, vibrant production of The Pirates of Penzance in tandem with Scottish Opera.

One man who is delighted to see D’Oyly Carte back in business is “patter” man Richard Suart, who plays the Major General. “It’s very exciting,” he says. “The D’Oyly Carte name is back and I hope that will now continue. “It’s very good that it’s with Scottish Opera, who have been through their difficult periods and have come out of it much stronger. We share a board member, Martin Haldane, who was instrumental in getting both companies to work together, and that’s been tremendous.”

Richard is a seasoned G&S performer, who over the last three decades has played nearly all their patter roles — songs set to a moderately fast to very fast tempo with a rapid succession of rhythmic patterns in which each syllable of text corresponds to one note — some many times. He is most associated with the role of Ko-Ko in Jonathan Miller’s updated production of The Mikado for ENO, but has also performed other roles with the company, as well as with D’Oyly Carte and at the annual International G&S Festival in Buxton. He didn’t plan to specialise in G&S. “I didn’t know what I was going to do,” he says. “I started in ‘77 and hadn’t done much G&S. “Then I was asked to understudy Bunthorne in 1984 at the Coliseum in that lovely old production of Patience. Then in ‘86 The Mikado came, then in ‘88 the D’Oyly Carte, and I let it run to see where it would take me.”

Richard’s other great love is contemporary opera, but he is constantly drawn back to G&S.

“I enjoy it a lot, and it’s a nice antidote to all the other things I do, some of which can be rather gruesome and difficult to perform.

“I like listening to people laugh. I like entertaining people. Even if it’s not belly laughs, I like people to smile.”

Richard has lost count of the number of times he has played the Major General, but he has a particular fondness for the character.

“He’s a difficult chap in that he comes on at the end of the first act and goes straight into his song, and that’s quite telling. And there’s not much you can do with him; there’s no development.

“But I find him quite genial, and I like the idea of him having 14 daughters! I think that’s good. He’s just a nice man.”

Rather like Richard himself, in fact.

 

New Theatre, Oxford
July 2 to 6
Call 0844 871 3020