Temple played the Pirate King in the first London production of "The Pirates of Penzance" (1880–81). He next created the part of Colonel Calverley in "Patience" (Opera Comique, 1881), but left the company on 8 October of that year, the day before the piece left the Opera Comique to transfer to the new Savoy Theatre. Temple remained at the Opera Comique where, from October–December 1881, he appeared as King Portico in a revival of W. S. Gilbert and Frederic Clay's comic opera "Princess Toto" produced by John Hollingshead. He also gave "Richard Temple's Dramatic Recital" at Peckham in 1881, played in other operetta at the Opera Comique and, in Manchester, created the role of King James in "The Lancashire Witches" and played Abdallah in Solomon’s "Lord Bateman".