THE curse of The Sorcerer has struck the Jersey Gilbert & Sullivan Society for the second time.

Just a week before the production of the operetta was due to open at the Opera House, the performer due to play the key bass-baritone part of Sir Marmaduke Poindextre has been laid low with a heart condition. The popular St Brelade Rector, the Rev Mark Bond, has had to withdraw, as he has been ordered to rest ahead of treatment in the UK.

When the society was due to first stage The Sorcerer in 1991 with Barry Jordan in the role of Sir Marmaduke, he had to pull out to undergo a heart bypass. Lightning may have struck twice but Terry Neale has again agreed to come to the rescue 17 years after first being asked to step into the shoes of the ageing aristocrat.

The chairman of the society, Andrew Parker, said he was with Mr Neale in Dublin last weekend with the Harmony Men singing group when he learnt that Mr Bond had been told he could not take part.

‘My phone was red hot. It is quite unbelievable that the same thing would happen again to the same production. It really is a case of the curse of The Sorcerer,’ he said.