National Arts Centre - Centre national des Arts Canada is our stage. Le Canada en scène.

Oil and Water: Telling true stories on stage

May 20, 2014

by Marnie Richardson

In Artistic Fraud of Newfoundland's production of Oil and Water, the audience is taken on a journey of hope. A man who has never known kindness comes to experience a compassion that forever changes his view of human nature.

For many Canadians, Oil and Water will be their first exposure to the true story of U.S sailor Lanier Phillips' rescue from a navy shipwreck during the Second World War. Through this production, Artistic Fraud shares their work -- and this important Canadian story -- on the national stage.

"It is an important part of Newfoundland history that, we think, deserves to be more broadly known." says playwright Robert Chafe.

Related events

Learn more about

Jillian Keiley
Jillian Keiley

Jillian Keiley has directed and taught across Canada and internationally. She was the founding Artistic Director of Artistic Fraud. Highlights from her 27 years with the company include In Your Dreams Freud, Under Wraps, AfterImage, The Cheat, The Chekhov Variations, and Salvage: Story of a House, Oil and Water, Between Breaths, The Colony of Unrequited Dreams, and I Forgive You, most of which were featured on tours across Canada including the NAC. Jillian assumed her role as NAC English Theatre Artistic Director in 2012 and finished her tenure in 2022. Other NAC productions include A Christmas Carol, Twelfth Night, Metamorphoses: Based on the Myths of Ovid and Copenhagen. She also directed Bakkhai, The Diary of Anne Frank, and As You Like It for the Stratford Festival, as well as The Neverending Story and Alice Through the Looking-Glass, both produced as collaborations between the Stratford Festival and the NAC. Tempting Providence, her collaboration with Robert Chafe for Theatre Newfoundland Labrador, toured internationally for 12 years. Her production of Tell Tale Harbour at the Confederation Centre for the Arts was a blockbuster hit at the Confederation Centre this past summer and she looks forward to opening summer productions of Richard the Second at the Stratford Festival and Come From Away in Gander, Newfoundland. Jillian holds Honorary Doctorates of Letters from both Memorial University and York University, and she was the winner of the Siminovitch Prize for Directing in 2004 and the Canada Council’s John Hirsch Prize in 1997.

Metteure en scène primée de St. John’s, à Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador, Jillian Keiley est la fondatrice de la compagnie de théâtre Artistic Fraud of Newfoundland. Elle a signé des mises en scène et enseigné partout au Canada, et elle a aussi travaillé à l’étranger. Titulaire d’un baccalauréat en Beaux-arts avec concentration en Théâtre de l’Université York, Mme Keiley a remporté le prestigieux prix Siminovitch (mise en scène) en 2004, ainsi que le prix John-Hirsch du Conseil des arts du Canada, et a reçu des doctorats honorifiques en Lettres de l’Université Memorial et de l’Université York. Jillian est entrée en poste comme directrice aretistique du Théâtre anglais du CNA en août 2012, et les productions qu’elle a mises en scène au CNA comprennent The Neverending Story, Between Breaths, The Colony of Unrequited Dreams, A Christmas Carol, Twelfth Night, Metamorphoses: Based on the Myths of Ovid, Tartuffe, Oil and Water et Alice Through the Looking-Glass. Récemment, elle a mis en scène Bakkhai, The Diary of Anne Frank et As You Like It pour le Festival de Stratford, et ses productions de Tartuffe (CNA) et The Colony of Unrequited Dreams (Artistic Fraud) ont tourné à Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador. Tempting Providence, fruit de sa collaboration avec Robert Chafe pour Theatre Newfoundland Labrador, a tourné sur la scène mondiale pendant douze ans et a été la production inaugurale lors du lancement du Nurse Myra Bennett Theatre à Cow Head, Terre-Neuve, l’été dernier.

EnglishTheatreAD@nac-cna.ca
NAC media featuring Jillian Keiley
Close
Artistic Director and Playwright Robert Chafe
Artistic Director and Playwright Robert Chafe St. John’s, Newfoundland

Robert Chafe is a writer, educator, actor and arts administrator based in St. John’s, Ktaqmkuk (Newfoundland). He has worked in theatre, dance, opera, radio, fiction and film. His stage plays have been seen in Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and in the United States, and include Oil and Water, Tempting Providence, Afterimage, Under Wraps, Between Breaths, Everybody Just Calm the Fuck Down, and The Colony of Unrequited Dreams (adapted from the novel by Wayne Johnston.) He has been shortlisted twice for the Governor General’s Literary Award for Drama and he won the award for Afterimage in 2010. He has been guest instructor at Memorial University, Sir Wilfred Grenfell College, and The National Theatre School of Canada. In 2018 he was awarded an honorary doctorate from Memorial University. He is the playwright and Artistic Director of Artistic Fraud.

Robert Chafe est un écrivain, enseignant, acteur et administrateur des arts basé à St. John’s, Ktaqmkuk (Terre-Neuve). Il a travaillé dans les domaines du théâtre, de la danse, de l’opéra, de la radio, de la fiction et du cinéma. Ses pièces de théâtre ont été présentées au Canada, au Royaume-Uni, en Australie et aux États-Unis. Elles comprennent Oil and Water, Tempting Providence, Afterimage, Under Wraps, Between Breaths, Everybody Just Calm the Fuck Down et The Colony of Unrequited Dreams (adaptation du roman de Wayne Johnston). Il a été finaliste deux fois au Prix littéraire du Gouverneur général, dans la catégorie Théâtre, et a remporté ce prix pour Afterimage en 2010. Il a été professeur invité à l’Université Memorial, au Sir Wilfred Grenfell College et à l’École nationale de théâtre du Canada. En 2018, il a reçu un doctorat honorifique de l’Université Memorial. Dramaturge, il est directeur artistique d’Artistic Fraud.
NAC media featuring Robert Chafe
- Podcasts
- Stories
Close