Unlike the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, the J. C. Williamson G. & S. Opera Co. was not in continuous operation but was organised specifically to tour the operas for a duration of two or more years, depending on how popular the season was with audiences, after which it was disbanded. The company would then be re-formed, after a variable interval of years, for another tour in response to perceived audience demand. During the years of the Great Depression in the early 1930s, the popularity of the G&S company, in fact, helped to keep the firm financially viable when a number of their musical comedy productions lost money. The operas were directed and choreographed by Melbourne-based Minnie Everett. She was believed to be the only woman director of Gilbert and Sullivan at the time, and was one of the first female directors of professional theatre companies in the world.