TALES DISPATCH: Glenn McQuaid on "Three Raps On A Buoy"

TALES DISPATCH: Glenn McQuaid on “Three Raps On A Buoy”

I have always had a thing for maritime spookiness (see: Trawler), and I’d wanted for some time to write a pandemic-set piece about open-water swimming. Swimming was one of the things that got me through lockdown. On a small rocky beach in Howth, I would swim out to the buoy and rap my knuckles against it, in memory of loved ones now gone.

Three Raps on the Buoy grew out of those swims, but also out of my friendship and ongoing collaboration with Declan Reynolds (The Restoration at Grayson Manor). On the cover of the script, we say that the Tale is dedicated to the memory of our fathers, Patsy and Charlie, who were both taken from us too early and in tragic circumstances. That became increasingly important to us as the piece developed. Beneath the darkness, this is really a story about grief, and about the shapes it can take when we carry it for too long. So this one is for the Dads, and those that miss them.

The production also became something of a reunion for me. I got to work with my I Sell the Dead pal Ron Perlman again, and to reunite with sound designer John Moros, who absolutely kills it here. John has thrown himself into this Tale with an extraordinary amount of care and invention. He has followed the direction on the page to a T, while constantly finding ways to make the world richer, and more tactile. John has given it everything, right down to having me in his pool splashing about to capture the water we needed.

And, of course, I got to work with Declan, this time as both story collaborator and performer. Larry suggested bringing Ashley Bell into the mix, which was a wonderful idea. Ashley came aboard as Lauren and brought a warmth to the role that gave us an emotional dimension that I hadn’t quite anticipated.

Working with actors, and playing alongside them, is the best job in the world. There is something so genuinely good about a group of people committing themselves to the same imagined world and seeing where it takes us.

Ron, Declan and Ashley, thanks for swimming in this ocean with me, where the waters were never the same twice. “Always in flux.”

A big thank you my Pale Brother Larry Fessenden for steering the ship along with Jordan Gass-Poore’ and Rigo Garay, and to Lee Nussbaum, who lent a hand at every step of the journey, from the earliest days of the piece right through to the finish line. His support, patience and good instincts are woven into this one too.

Glenn McQuaid