Having designed extensively on the fringe in London, he began a long term creative collaboration with the director
Michael Grandage whom he met in 1995 when they first worked together on Arthur Miller's
The Last Yankee in Colchester. Their subsequent professional partnership at the
Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, includes
As You Like It with
Victoria Hamilton (also
Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith); ''
A Midsummer Night's Dream and Richard III with Kenneth Branagh; Edward II with Joseph Fiennes; Suddenly Last Summer with Victoria Hamilton and Diana Rigg (also Albery Theatre); The Tempest with Derek Jacobi (also Old Vic) and Don Carlos'' with Derek Jacobi (also
Gielgud Theatre). Collaborations at the Donmar Warehouse include
Good with
Charles Dance;
Passion Play,
Privates on Parade with
Roger Allam,
Caligula with
Michael Sheen;
The Vortex;
Merrily We Roll Along;
Grand Hotel; Pirandello's
Henry IV with
Ian McDiarmid,
Don Juan in Soho with
Rhys Ifans,
Frost/Nixon with
Frank Langella and Michael Sheen (also
West End and
Broadway),
Othello with
Chiwetel Ejiofor and
Ewan McGregor,
Red with
Alfred Molina and
Eddie Redmayne (which subsequently transferred to the
John Golden Theatre, Broadway) and
King Lear with Derek Jacobi. Oram designed the four plays of the Donmar
Wyndham's season,
Ivanov with Kenneth Branagh,
Twelfth Night with Derek Jacobi,
Madame de Sade with
Judi Dench, and
Hamlet with
Jude Law (which subsequently transferred to
Elsinore castle in Denmark, and to the
Broadhurst Theatre, Broadway). Oram also designed the musicals
Guys and Dolls at the
Piccadilly Theatre (also
Princess Theatre, Melbourne) and
Evita at the
Adelphi Theatre in London, and on Broadway, as well as the costumes for Kenneth Branagh's
film of The Magic Flute. Other work includes
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (dir.
Rob Ashford at the
Richard Rodgers Theatre, Broadway),
The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (dir.
Jamie Lloyd, Donmar Warehouse),
Passion (dir. Jamie Lloyd, Donmar Warehouse),
Parade (dir.
Rob Ashford);
A Streetcar Named Desire with
Rachel Weisz (dir. Rob Ashford, Donmar Warehouse),
A View from the Bridge with
Ken Stott (dir.
Lindsay Posner at the
Duke of York's Theatre),
King Lear and
The Seagull with
Ian McKellen (dir.
Trevor Nunn, RSC Stratford, London and World Tour),
Wolf Hall,
Bring Up the Bodies and
The Mirror and the Light (dir.
Jeremy Herrin);
Summerfolk,
Stuff Happens,
Power, ''
Danton's Death and Man and Superman, (National Theatre), Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill'' (
Wyndham's Theatre), ''
No's Knife (The Old Vic), Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (The Goodman Theatre, Chicago). Both Red
and Parade'' played subsequent seasons at the
Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles. Oram was also the season designer of the Michael Grandage Company inaugural season at the
Noël Coward Theatre.
Privates on Parade,
Peter and Alice,
The Cripple of Inishmaan, ''
A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Henry V. Subsequent Michael Grandage Company productions Photograph 51 (Noël Coward Theatre), Backstairs Billy (Duke of Yorks Theatre), Lieutenant of Inishmore (Noël Coward Theatre) and The Line of Beauty'' (
Almeida Theatre). His
opera work includes
Billy Budd (
Glyndebourne and
BAM),
The Marriage of Figaro (Glyndebourne),
Don Giovanni (
MET),
Madama Butterfly (
Houston Grand Opera),
The Wreckers (
Houston Grand Opera),
The Turn of the Screw (
Garsington Opera and
Santa Fe Opera),
La Traviata (
Santa Fe Opera and
Garsington Opera),
Platee (
Garsington Opera). His
ballet work includes
Casanova by
Kenneth Tindall (
Northern Ballet),
Geisha by
Kenneth Tindall (
Northern Ballet),
Alice in Wonderland by
Kenneth Tindall (
Tulsa Ballet). Other dance work includes
The Artist by
Drew McConie (
Theatre Royal Plymouth) and
Quadrophenia by Paul Roberts (
Sadler's Wells and tour). In 2017/18 he designed set and costumes for
Disney Theatrical Groups production of
Frozen for its out of town production in Denver and its Broadway production opening at the
St. James Theatre on 22 March 2018 and subsequently
Theatre Royal Drury Lane in London, the U.S. tour, Australia, Japan, Germany and Holland. Oram was an Artistic Associate on 'Plays at the Garrick' in the Kenneth Branagh season in the West End. He is also a Companion of the
Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts, and has been on the committee of the Linbury Prize for stage design. ==Awards==