LONDON.- The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company and the British Library announced that the Library has acquired the archive of the D’Oyly Carte Theatre Company, ensuring that it remains in the UK as an invaluable resource for anyone interested in theatre and opera.

The acquisition has enabled D’Oyly Carte to follow the success of their 2013 hit The Pirates of Penzance, which they produced with Scottish Opera, with a UK tour of The Mikado.

The Library was enabled to acquire the archive by the generous support of the D’Oyly Carte Charitable Trust and the Friends of the British Library. This includes funding to catalogue and preserve the archive, which is expected to be fully accessible by spring 2017.

Founded by Richard D’Oyly Carte, the company performed the operas of Gilbert & Sullivan for 107 years – from 1875, when Trial by Jury received its first performance at the Royalty Theatre, London, until February 27, 1982. Although Carte’s company folded in 1982 and reformed in 1988 only to suspend performances in 2003, the works of Gilbert and Sullivan have been remained in production throughout Britain and the rest of the world. The operas are particularly popular in America, where countless companies are dedicated to their performance.

The D’Oyly Carte archive is remarkable in its extent, its continuity and the range of material it contains. It provides unparalleled insight into an opera company which was unusual in its repertoire, international reach, its focused social identity and its ownership - over more than a century - by a single family. As an archive of an important theatre company which toured the UK and British Empire extensively, it is British in the sense of the audiences it reached, and its subject matter, which relates to stage works offering a unique view on aspects of British society and culture from the late Victorian period.

The archive includes extensive correspondence with agents and artistes, relating to auditions, casting, personnel, theatres and tours (around the UK and throughout the English-speaking world); programmes, press cuttings, band parts, libretti, prompt books, papers and photographs of the D’Oyly Carte family, contracts, stage managers’ reports, illustrative materials including sketches for costumes and props, cigarette cards, extensive photographs of artistes, productions and special occasions, posters, recordings on various media including discs, reel-to-reel tape, and sound and video cassette and optical disc. A star item in the archive is Arthur Sullivan’s autograph score for Iolanthe, which until its acquisition was the last Sullivan score in private hands, along with William Gilbert’s working prompt copy for the same opera.

This is excellent news for D’Oyly Carte and for the public, as it means that the archive will remain in the UK, be housed appropriately, conserved and properly catalogued. It also means that it will be accessible once again to the public for research purposes. Ian Martin, D’Oyly Carte

The British Library is delighted to have acquired such an important archive which provides real insight into the development of musical theatre in Britain during the 19th and 20th century. It is the very depth and breadth of the archive, which includes everything from audition books and scores, to costume designs, financial accounts and stage managers’ reports, that makes this archive so significant. Its acquisition builds on the Library’s existing strong Gilbert and Sullivan collections, which include the Gilbert papers, and autograph scores of Patience, Gondoliers and Ruddigore. It also adds to an already rich collection of theatrical archives at the British Library which includes the archives of Lawrence Olivier and Alec Guinness and the Lord Chamberlain’s Plays collection. Kathryn Johnson, Curator, Theatre Archives and Manuscripts

Scottish Opera has assembled many of the creative team from The Pirates of Penzance for The Mikado; Richard Suart, Nicholas Sharratt and Rebecca Bottone return and are joined by baritone Stephen Richardson, singing The Mikado, and comic genius Andrew Shore as Pooh-Bah. Director Martin Lloyd-Evans and choreographer Steve Elias will bring The Mikado to life with a delicious mix of cheeky English Music Hall and exquisite Japanese tradition. The tour starts at the Theatre Royal, Glasgow on 5 May 2016 before visiting a further seven venues; Eden Court Theatre, Inverness (19-21 May), His Majesty’s Theatre, Aberdeen (26-28 May), Festival Theatre, Edinburgh (1-5 June), Grand Opera House, Belfast (9-11 June), Theatre Royal, Newcastle (15-18 June), The Bristol Hippodrome (22-25 June) and The Mayflower Theatre, Southampton (29 June-2 July).