Howard Campbell, Gleaner Writer

Rae

NORMAN RAE, an influential member of Jamaica's art scene for more than five decades, died at his Stony Hill, St Andrew, home yesterday. He was 76.

Alistair Rae, his nephew, said his uncle's body was discovered by house staff at 7 a.m. No cause of death was given.

Theatre circles

Although Rae was best known in theatre circles as a playwright, producer and arts critic for The Gleaner, he also served as an executive at the Banana Board and was Jamaica's trade commissioner in London for several years.

"He was what people call a renaissance man. Norman did everything," said journalist John Maxwell, who first met Rae in 1952 when he (Maxwell) began working at The Gleaner.

Advertising Executive Tony Gambrill knew Rae for more than 40 years and first worked with him on the revue 8 O'Clock Jamaica Time in 1966. He said Rae had a unique theatre sense.

"Norman would pick people for his productions who had never been onstage. As a director, he had a real sense of humour," Gambrill said.

Rae, a younger cousin of the Jamaica and West Indies cricketer Alan Rae, was born in Kingston and attended Kingston College. He earned a degree in English from Oxford University, and later an MBa in English from London University.

Plays

In a 2003 interview with The Gleaner, Rae said Collaboration '53 was the first play he directed while he was at Oxford. Hamlet, Sweeney Todd and A Little Night Music were some of the other productions he directed.

Barbara Gloudon, another of Rae's long-time colleagues, described him as a 'man of the theatre'.

"He was not always a nice critic. He could be very harsh," Gloudon said. "But Norman had another side, he was a very hospitable person."

Rae was awarded a Silver Musgrave Medal in 1996 for his contribution to Jamaican art. Last year, he was awarded the Order of Distinction for his contribution to the development of Jamaican theatre and public service.

Rae, who never married, is survived by three nephews.