Neil Oram

[1] Oram returned to Britain in 1958 where he ran a jazz café called The House of Sam Widges on 8 D'Arblay Street in Soho, London.

It attracted many highly regarded musicians in London, such as Ronnie Scott, Tubby Hayes, Graham Bond, Dave Tomlin and Bobby Wellins, all of whom were frequent customers.

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, were exhibited.

Morris's jazz paintings were executed in The Pad to the vibrant sounds of the Graham Bond Quartet, then carried and hung up in The Mingus.

[6][7] 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.

Performers included Russell Denton (in the lead), Jim Broadbent, Bill Nighy, 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.

[8] At the 1979 Edinburgh Festival, 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”.

In the late 1990s, the play was staged at "The Drome" nightclub under the arches of the London Bridge [1] as part of a rave called The Warp Experience that ran for 9 events.

Spring Again (2006)- Neil Oram
Neil Oram, performing in The Warp's lead role Phil Masters, along with actor Mitch Davies in the role of Marty Mission, at the ICA, London, January 1979. Photograph by Evelyn Honig.