Richard Burkhard tells Viv Hardwick about using a touch of Geoffrey Palmer to create a comic baddie for the Newcastle tour of Ruddigore.

RUDDIGORE is the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta that isn’t seen too often, which surprises singer Richard Burkhard who is bringing the comic character of Sir Despard Murgatroyd to Newcastle Theatre Royal next week, as part of Opera North’s latest season.

“I think that’s why it’s generated such interest because it’s a mystery as to why it’s not done so often. It’s a terrific piece and has got so much in it. I saw the runthrough in the rehearsal room and thought every scene was a gem. The ghost scene is the crux of the evening, but it’s success has probably been marred by the fact it came straight after the Mikado which was the great success,” says Burkhard, who plays a reluctant nobleman who inherits the family curse of having to commit a crime a day.

He performs alongside Grant Doyle as his older brother Sir Ruthven Murgatroyd, who assumes the identity of Robin Oakapple to avoid the curse.

So what crimes has Burkhard committed to land himself with the role of a comic baddie?

“I don’t have the relationship with G&S that others do.

They’ve grown up with it and stood around the piano singing the songs from G&S. I’ve only come to the this as a professional and only feel myself to be a G&S baby really.

But I don’t come with all the D’Oyly Carte baggage where people say ‘well they always do this at that point’. I think ‘right, well that’s not how I’m going to do that’,” he says.

He says his Despard is different to those of the past and regards this as a credit to the composers who allow performers to approach roles differently.

“My baddie is an amalgamation of a number of people. There’s a touch of Geoffrey Palmer who is a deadpan character but you notice he always has that twinkle in his eye of the comedian. So you have to be serious and straight and stern but also to be comic and it’s a subtle thing. We were also helped with the dialogue by Selina Cadell, her brother was Simon Cadell from Hi-de-Hi and he could also do the deadpan thing quite well. I also threw in a touch of Terry-Thomas and an ounce or two of Kenneth Williams for good measure.

“When I first read the script I knew it was going to be just so much fun with this crime a day thing. It’s a gift really. But there’s something about my character that seems to enjoy being a baddie. Even when he reforms he’s still pretty nasty.

He puts people in dungeons and robs a bank and kidnaps people, but it’s all pretty light-hearted.”

Director Jo Davies has made the most of the production’s Victorian melodrama with Gateshead conductor John Wilson making his debut with the baton.

“Jo encouraged me to chuck everything at this role and to see what sticks,” he says.

Burkhard has taken on a variety of productions for Opera North in recent years and dubs his Leeds-based employers “a lovely company”. Even so, the touring life, and travelling on a regular basis from his home near Nottingham can sometimes catch you out.

“I had a bit of a disaster last night. I was planning to drive back after the show, but when I got back to the car park it was locked up. So the conductor let me stay at his house last night and I managed to fetch my car this morning. Even so it still doesn’t seem like when Chitty Chitty Bang Bang tours because, normally, I can commute home quite easily,” he says.

The singer has developed a keen interest in gardening and admits he has been known to plan his professional commitments around the growing season. “I’m taking weeks off in April and May to get the crops planted out. I grow everything,” he says having bought a house with a garden that was once featured on BBC Gardeners’ World. “I’m not sure it would qualify at the moment because I have small children and the garden really is a full time job,” Burkhard adds.

In his younger days he survived a forest fire in the US.

“We went to a cowboy ranch on a day trip and when we got back the ranch was on fire and we had to be evacuated by the US army and a helicopter out looking for us got sucked into the flames and it was horrendous and very dramatic,”

he says.

Burkhard moves on to playing an out-and-out baddie in an English National Opera tour of The Duchess of Malfi and says: “I used to play clowns and goodies and now I’m getting more and more baddies which is more fun.”

■ Ruddigore runs on Wednesday and next Saturday at Newcastle Theatre Royal. La Bohemme opens the Tyneside season on Tuesday and also next Friday. Cosi fan tutte runs next Thursday. Box Office: 08448-112-121 operanorth.co.uk