Crossword Genius

Work in the theatre, perhaps (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

operate

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'work' is the definition.
(I know that work can be written as operate)

'theatre perhaps' is the wordplay.
'theatre' becomes 'opera' (opera is a kind of theatre).
'perhaps' becomes 'te' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'opera'+'te'='OPERATE'

'in the' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for operate that I've seen before include "effect" , "Carry out surgery" , "Perform surgery or run a machine" , "Cause to function" , "(Of machine) function" .)

I've seen this clue in The Irish Independent.
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