Oyly Carte in Northern Ireland

According to Rollins and Witts (The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company in Gilbert and Sullivan Operas), the first visit consisted of a tour of H.M.S. Pinafore and The Pirates of Penzance for part of two weeks at the end of January and beginning of February 1882. During the week beginning 30 January, the Company visited Drogheda (two days), Dundalk (two days) and Omagh (one day). The following week (February 6) three performances were given in Derry. The second tour was brief, the Company gave two performances only of Patience on 1 & 2 January 1883 in Derry. In 1885 they returned to the province for several weeks, presenting Patience and Iolanthe, visiting Drogheda, Dundalk and Armagh in the week commencing February 2, Derry, Enniskillen and Omagh the following week (Feb 9) and Larne the week following that. That was almost the end of the tours; they returned only for four days to Derry in December 1889 (the week commencing 15th.) during which time The Yeomen of the Guard and The Mikado were performed. A few adjustments have had to be made to this scenario as a result of my examination of the local newspapers, which indicate that there were other D'Oyly Carte visits to Northern Ireland than those given by Rollins and Witts. I cannot claim to have found all of these, and more work remains to be done. These reports proved to be of such interest, not only in their comments on the performances, but also in the views of the period on the operas themselves, that I have reproduced many of them in full.