THE DIRECTORS
Biographies for Directors who have directed more than four Pantomimess are included on this page
Robert (Bobby) Clarke is a diploma graduate of the Jamaica School of Dramawhere he pursued studies in Drama in Education and Theatre Arts. He started his professional career as a drama teacher at both the primary and secondary levels. Between 1987 and 1999 Mr. Clarke worked extensively in the field of Broadcasting as a Radio and Television producer and presenter and Music Librarian with the former Jamaica Broadcasting Corporation as well as Irie FM radio.
In addition he has been a producer of National Events with the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission and has served the Commission for many years as an adjudicator and workshop facilitator for that organization’s Speech and Drama Festival competition and as a script marker for their Literary Arts competition.
Mr. Clarke has executed many roles an actor in various stage Television and Video productions and has spread his wings as an accomplished director. He has been responsible for mounting theatrical productions varying from preparatory and secondary school festivals and commercial ventures, to adult dramas with the most recent and prolific being the Little Theatre Movement’s season of national pantomimes, of which he has directed a total of seven to date including: Jangah Rock, Miss
Annie, Comboluh, Iffa Nuh So, Zu-Zu
Macca , Nuff
and Plenty and Runner Boy.
He currently lectures in vocal performance and phonetics at the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts.
BOBBY
GHISAYS
Bobby Ghisays was well known as a director, actor, and television
host. He directed three pantomimes - "Johnny Reggae",
The Pirate Princess" and "Ginneral B". Bobby
covered everything from opera to drama, musicals to melodrama,
revues to comedies. He also directed television commercials
and radio jingles.
Bobby was trained at the Holy Cross College in Massachusetts
where he gained a B.A. in English Literature and at the the
Royal Academy of Arts. His local credits include "Annie
Get Your Gun", "Come Blow Your Horn", Eight O'Clock
Jamaica Time", "Come Back to Jamaica" and "the
Dread Mikado". In 1980 he was invited by Black Theatre
Canada to direct Lorraine Hansberry's classic "Raisin in
the Sun". That was his second stint with Black Theatre
Canada. In 1976, he had been invited to co-write and direct
the revue "Bathurst Street."
As an actor, he was in "Old Story Time", and the BBC
Film "The Fight Against Slavery" and in two Pantomimes
namely the revival of "Queenie's Daughter" and "Pirate
Princess". After giving many years to Jamaican theatre,
Bobby Ghisays died in 1990.
Brian
Heap
Brian Heap is English-born but Jamaican by assimilation. A graduate
teacher from the University of Newcastle on Tyne/University
of Leeds he has shared his special skills in drama in education
and therapy with a wide audience in Jamaica. He has worked as
regional coordinator for Very Special Arts, an international
programme which seeks to enrich the lives of the disable through
involvement in the performing arts. His classroom years include
work at St. Joseph's Teacher Training College, and he was Director
of Studies at the School of Drama (Edna Manley College). Brian
is a senior lecturer at the UWI, Mona, and Artistic Director
of the University Players.
His theatre credits include appearing in "Raisin in the
Sun", Trevor Rhone's "School's Out", Louis Marriott's
"Bedward" and Derek Walcott's "Remembrance",
and in the pantomimes "Pirate
Princess", and "Bruckins".
His deep interest in Jamaican Folk Culture and extensive travels
throughout the island has given him particular insight into
the taste and flavour of Jamaican life, a quality which he uses
to great advantage as a director. Brian has directed 15 pantomimes
and the acclaimed Augus
Mawnin.
Norman Rae
Norman Rae a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, studied at
Oxford University and London University . He returned to Jamaica
and was actively involved in the theatre scene as a director
and as a critic where he wrote reviews for the Daily Gleaner
and the Jamaica Observer. He was awarded a silver Musgrave Medal
for his contribution to Jamaican theatre. He also produced a
radio serial "A Time to Remember".
Rae’s credits include The Fantastiks, A Funny Thing on
the Way to the Forum, and most recently Into the Woods at the
Ward Theatre. He directed four pantomimes, Anancy and Doumbey, Hail Columbus, Dickance for Fippance and Brashana O! Norman Rae died in 2008
Lloyd Reckord
Lloyd Reckord studied at eh Bristol Old Vic Theatre School in
England and was invited to join the Old Vic Company where he
appeared in productions of "Romeo and Juliet" and
"The Merchant of Venice". He later directed plays
in England at the Royal Court Theatre, London, the Pembroke
Theatre, Croydon and The Tower Theatre, Islington. On his return
to Jamaica he wrote and directed two short films and television
documentaries for the BBC. He founded the Actors Theatre Company
and the National Theatre Trust which went onto present several
plays and foreign films to the Jamaican audience.
His directing credits include the pantomimes Busha Bluebeard, Finian's Rainbow, Queenie's Daughter
and Sipplesilver.