Make cuts in the theatre? (7)
I believe the answer is:
operate
'make' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'cuts in the theatre?' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'the' could be 't' (the is pronounced as a 't' sound in some dialects) and 't' is found within the answer.
'theatre?' could be 'opera' (opera is a kind of theatre) and 'opera' is found in the answer.
A single letter 'e' remains which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for operate that I've seen before include "Perform as surgeon does" , "Work as a surgeon" , "Eat rope (anag.)" , "Make function" , "Carry out surgery" .)