Neil R. G. Oram is a British musician, poet, artist and playwright. He is known for his 10-play cycle, ''The Warp'', directed by
Ken Campbell
Kenneth Victor Campbell (10 December 1941 – 31 August 2008) was an English actor, writer and director known for his work in experimental theatre. He has been called "a one-man dynamo of British theatre".
Campbell achieved notoriety in the 1 ...
.
Soho, jazz, art and poetry career
In Africa, Oram met musician
Mike Gibbs. He played double bass in the ''Mike Gibbs Quintet'' with Gibbs playing piano, vibes and trombone. A post-concert epiphany where a voice repeatedly told him "Je suis un poet!" led him to take up writing. Oram returned to Britain in 1958 where he ran a jazz café called ''The House of Sam Widges'' at 8
D'Arblay Street
D'Arblay Street is a street in the Soho district of the City of Westminster, London, named after Frances Burney (Madame d'Arblay). It was formerly known as Portland Street and was built on land owned by the Dukes of Portland known as Doghouse C ...
in
Soho
Soho is an area of the City of Westminster, part of the West End of London. Originally a fashionable district for the aristocracy, it has been one of the main entertainment districts in the capital since the 19th century.
The area was develop ...
, London. The café was known for its jukebox that only had modern jazz records. It attracted many of the top London musicians, such as
Ronnie Scott
Ronnie may refer to:
*Ronnie (name), a unisex pet name and given name
* "Ronnie" (Four Seasons song), a song by Bob Gaudio and Bob Crewe
*"Ronnie," a song from the Metallica album '' Load''
*Ronnie Brunswijkstadion, an association football stadium ...
,
Tubby Hayes
Edward Brian "Tubby" Hayes (30 January 1935 – 8 June 1973) was an English jazz multi-instrumentalist, best known for his tenor saxophone playing in groups with fellow sax player Ronnie Scott and with trumpeter Jimmy Deuchar.
Early life
...
,
Graham Bond
Graham John Clifton Bond (28 October 1937 – 8 May 1974) was an English rock/blues musician and vocalist, considered a founding father of the English rhythm and blues boom of the 1960s.
Bond was an innovator, described as "an important, und ...
,
Dave Tomlin
David Allen Tomlin (born June 22, 1949) is a retired American professional baseball player. During his 13-season career in Major League Baseball, he was a relief pitcher for the Cincinnati Reds (1972–73 and 1978–80), San Diego Padres (1974 ...
and
Bobby Wellins
Robert Coull Wellins (24 January 1936 – 27 October 2016) was a Scottish tenor saxophonist who collaborated with Stan Tracey on the album '' Jazz Suite Inspired by Dylan Thomas's "Under Milk Wood"'' (1965).
Biography
Robert Coull Wellins was ...
, who were frequent customers, occasionally enjoying a bowl of spaghetti bolognese prepared by Oram. The café also had a performance stage called 'The Pad'."
Oram was now writing poetry, giving readings and painting large, abstract, jazz inspired paintings. In 1960, he opened "The Mingus" art gallery in Marshall Street, Soho, where abstract paintings by O. G. Bradbury, George Popperwell, Jaime Manzano,
Tony Shiels and William Morris, the American poet and action painter, could be seen. Morris's jazz paintings were executed in The Pad to the vibrant sounds of the
Graham Bond
Graham John Clifton Bond (28 October 1937 – 8 May 1974) was an English rock/blues musician and vocalist, considered a founding father of the English rhythm and blues boom of the 1960s.
Bond was an innovator, described as "an important, und ...
Quartet, then carried and hung up in The Mingus.
![Spring-Again (2006)- Neil Oram](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b4/Spring-Again_%282006%29-_Neil_Oram.jpg)
Oram’s published poems can be found in ‘
Children of Albion’ (Penguin 1968), ‘Words-re-arranged’ (Privately printed, 1970), ‘Past The Antique Pain’ (Zum Zum 1974), ‘Beauty’s Shit’ (Zum Zum 1976), ‘The Golden Forgotten’ (Great Works 1977), ‘Yes To The Fresh’ (Zum Zum 1995).
Oram contributed to the ''
Poetry Review
''Poetry Review'' is the magazine of The Poetry Society, edited by the poet Emily Berry. Founded in 1912, shortly after the establishment of the Society, previous editors have included poets Muriel Spark, Adrian Henri, Andrew Motion and Maurice R ...
'', edited by
Eric Mottram
Eric Mottram (29 December 1924 – 16 January 1995) was a British teacher, critic, editor and poet who was one of the central figures in the British Poetry Revival.
Early life and education
Mottram was born in London and educated at Purley Gramm ...
, a mainstay of the
modernist
Modernism is both a philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new forms of art, philosophy, an ...
-inspired
British Poetry Revival
"The British Poetry Revival" is the general name given to a loose poetry movement in Britain that took place in the 1960s and 1970s. The revival was a modernist-inspired reaction to the Movement's more conservative approach to British poetry. T ...
of the 1960s and 1970s.
Oram's poems and other writings can be found in
underground
Underground most commonly refers to:
* Subterranea (geography), the regions beneath the surface of the Earth
Underground may also refer to:
Places
* The Underground (Boston), a music club in the Allston neighborhood of Boston
* The Underground ...
magazines from the late 1950s onwards, like ''Night Scene'' published by
Lee Harwood
Lee Harwood (6 June 1939 – 26 July 2015) was a poet associated with the British Poetry Revival.
Life
Travers Rafe Lee Harwood was born in Leicester to maths teacher Wilfred Travers Lee-Harwood and Grace Ladkin Harwood, who were then living ...
, and
International Times
''International Times'' (''it'' or ''IT'') is the name of various underground newspapers, with the original title founded in London in 1966 and running until October 1973. Editors included John "Hoppy" Hopkins, David Mair ...
(''IT'') A select collection of poems drawn from 56 years of poetry, The Rain Stands Tall, was published in 2015 by Barncott Press.
Oram has, over a long period of time, painted abstract pieces of art, mostly not shown in public. The paintings include a series of twenty geometric images, the Diamond Series, painted over two decades.
''The Warp''
''The Warp's'' hero is called Phil Masters, named after the blind poet
Philip Bourke Marston
Philip Bourke Marston (13 August 1850 – 13 February 1887) was an English poet.
Life
He was born in London 13 August 1850, the son of John Westland Marston.
Philip James Bailey and Dinah Maria Mulock were his sponsors, and the most popular of ...
, who lived from 1850 to 1887. The play traces the hero’s many previous lives over a period of thousands of years. ''The Warp'' appears in the
Guinness Book of Records
''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...
as the longest play ever performed. Lasting upwards of 22 hours when performed fully, the Phil Masters character is on stage for all but five minutes, making it one of the most demanding acting roles ever created.
The first performance of The Warp (''Warp 1, The Storm's Howling through Tiflis'') opened at London's
ICA on 2 January 1979, the author's birthday. For the first two weeks the performances were of one play per night. Then, due to the popularity of the play, there were three full, non-stop, 'marathon' performances of all 10 plays, which were also filmed. Performers included Russell Denton (in the lead),
Jim Broadbent
James Broadbent (born 24 May 1949) is an English actor. He won an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award for his supporting role as John Bayley in the feature film ''Iris'' (2001), as well as winning a BAFTA TV Award and a Golden Globe for hi ...
,
Bill Nighy
William Francis Nighy (; born 12 December 1949) is an English actor. Nighy started his career with the Everyman Theatre, Liverpool and made his London debut with the Royal National Theatre starting with ''The Illuminatus! Trilogy, The Illuminatu ...
, Maria Moustaka, Stephen Lorne-Williams, Neil Cunningham,
Richard Hope and Pat Donovan. In order for Denton to be sufficiently rested to do the marathons, where he would be on stage for 22 hours, Oram himself was called upon to step up and perform the lead in a number of the plays. The ICA performance was documented by the BBC in their
Arena
An arena is a large enclosed platform, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theatre, musical performances, or sporting events. It is composed of a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for spectators ...
arts TV series.
![Neil Oram on stage in the Warp](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d9/Neil_Oram_on_stage_in_the_Warp.jpg)
At the 1979
Edinburgh Festival
__NOTOC__
This is a list of arts and cultural festivals regularly taking place in Edinburgh, Scotland.
The city has become known for its festivals since the establishment in 1947 of the Edinburgh International Festival and the Edinburgh Fe ...
, the abandoned Regent Cinema, on Abby Mount at the A1, was taken over by The Warp troupe who put on five 24-hour marathon performances or “cycles”. This was followed with one performance at
Hebden Bridge
Hebden Bridge is a market town in the Upper Calder Valley in West Yorkshire, England. It is west of Halifax and 14 miles (21 km) north-east of Rochdale, at the confluence of the River Calder and the Hebden Water. The town is the largest ...
in Yorkshire.
Five further marathon performances followed at the
Roundhouse in London in November 1979, also directed by Campbell.
In 1980 Oram was 'resident playwright' at the
Everyman Theatre in Liverpool, where ''The Warp'' ran for ten weeks. While there, Oram wrote an 11th Warp play entitled ''Chameleon Blue''.
In 1980-82, ''The Warp'' was adapted by director Werner Nekes for a film called ''Uliisses'', shot in Germany with ''The Warp'' cast. It was screened at the 1982
London Film Festival
The BFI London Film Festival is an annual film festival founded in 1957 and held in the United Kingdom, running for two weeks in October with co-operation from the British Film Institute. It screens more than 300 films, documentaries and shor ...
. In 1984, the film was awarded Best Film at the
German Film Critics Association Awards.
''The Warp'' was subsequently turned into a three-volume novel by Oram, published by
Sphere Books
Sphere Books is the name of two British paperback publishers.
History
The original Sphere Books was launched in 1966 by Thomson Corporation. Sphere was sold to Pearson PLC in 1985 and became part of Penguin. The name was retired in 1990.
In 19 ...
.
''The Warp DVD'', a video of the full 18-hour 1979 ICA production is available directly from Oram.
In the 1990s, there were a number of productions of ''The Warp'' directed by Ken Campbell's daughter
Daisy Eris Campbell
Daisy Eris Campbell (born 1978), is a British writer, actress and theatre director. Daughter of actor and director Ken Campbell and actress and therapist Prunella Gee. She staged '' The Warp'', a revival of Neil Oram's 24-hour play (which he ...
.
In the late 1990s, the play was staged at "The Drome" nightclub under the arches of the London Bridg
as part of a rave called ''The Warp Experience'' that ran for 9 events.
Authorship confusion
Obituaries on
Ken Campbell
Kenneth Victor Campbell (10 December 1941 – 31 August 2008) was an English actor, writer and director known for his work in experimental theatre. He has been called "a one-man dynamo of British theatre".
Campbell achieved notoriety in the 1 ...
in ''
The Daily Telegraph, The Telegraph'' and ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' say that Ken "wrote" ''The Warp'' or "co-wrote" ''The Warp'' with Neil Oram. However, other reviews and articles and all known publicity material acknowledges Neil Oram as being the sole author. It seems clear that Ken Campbell ''directed'', but never wrote a word of the Warp. There is no evidence that he ever claimed that he did.
According to Oram,
[Introduction to ''Spy For Love'' by Neil Oram (Oberon 2002)] the true story behind the writing of ''The Warp'' is as follows: Ken Campbell "inspired" him to write ''The Warp'' as a play after, at the ICA in 1978, Campbell heard Oram give a one-man performance of stories from his life. Campbell suggested dramatization and offered to direct the result. Commissioned by the ICA, and funded by the
Arts Council, Oram began working. A brief attempt at collaboration, with Campbell typing up the script, proved impractical. Oram then wrote the entire ten play cycle, by hand, by himself, in
Butleigh
Butleigh is a small village and civil parish, located in Somerset. The nearest village to it is Barton St David, and it is located a short distance from Glastonbury and Street. Its population is 823. Butleigh has a church, small village shop, a ...
, Somerset.
Bibliography
* ''Children of Albion'' (Penguin, 1968)
* ''Words-re-arranged'' (Privately printed, 1970)
* ''Past The Antique Pain'' (Zum Zum, 1974)
* ''Beauty’s Shit'' (Zum Zum, 1976)
* ''The Golden Forgotten'' (Great Works, 1977)
* ''Yes To The Fresh'' (Zum Zum, 1995)
* ''The Warp 1: The Storm's Howling Through Tiflis'' (Sphere)
* ''The Warp 2: Lemmings on the Edge'' (Sphere)
* ''The Warp 3: The Balustrade Paradox'' (Sphere, 1982).
* ''Spy For Love'' (Oberon, 2002)
* ''Inside Out'' (Barncott Press, 2013)
* ''The Friends of Deception'' (Barncott Press, 2013)
* ''The Rain Stands Tall (Barncott Press, 2015)''
Filmography
* ''Uliisses'' (1982, director: Werner Nekes, 35mm, 94 mins)
References
External links
Neil Oram's website
*
Neil Oram - The Warp - photo and graphics (1979)at the
Internet Archive
The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...
.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oram, Neil
1938 births
Living people
Writers from Torquay
British poets
British male poets
British dramatists and playwrights
People educated at Torquay Boys' Grammar School
Artists from Torquay
Musicians from Torquay