In Helen Walsh’s On the Sea, there isn’t “much deviation” from heteronormativity. Set within a rural North Wales community, the moving romance explores what happens when a married man attempts to balance his responsibilities as a mussel farmer with providing for his long-time wife and son, all while quietly suppressing his closeted queerness. Played with quiet intensity by Irish actor Barry Ward, Jack’s carefully ordered life is upended by the arrival of itinerant deckhand Daniel (Lorne Macfayden), whose presence awakens some rather rainbow-hued desires he has spent years trying to keep buried.

“He awakens something in Jack that he had suppressed for a very, very long time,” Ward tells Gay Times. “Daniel's arrival is a catalyst for that to all come out, and we see what happens when somebody of that temperament, in that environment, follows through on those impulses.” For Macfayden, who grew up in a rural fishing community on the Isle of Skye, Walsh’s depiction of small-town life rang especially true. “I don't want to be too disparaging about small communities – my community is very accepting in lots of ways – but I think it would be a bit naive to say that there aren't difficulties for people who want to go against the grain.”

Following its world premiere at the Edinburgh International Film Festival in 2025 and subsequent screenings at Belfast Film Festival and BFI Flare, On the Sea finally arrives in UK cinemas on 24 July. As Brits patiently await their queer mussel-farming fix, Gay Times spoke with Barry Ward and Lorne Macfayden about repression, rural queer life and the slow-burning romance at the heart of Helen Walsh’s acclaimed drama.

GT: Barry and Lorne, On the Sea has been on quite a journey through the festival circuit. How have you found the experience? And what has the response been like so far? 

Lorne: Yeah, it's been getting some lovely attention, and I've managed to go to a few festivals. One was in Leon, which was quite nice. I'd never been there before, and I'm looking forward to the release in July as well. So we've got some good screenings and Q&As and things like that. Yeah, it's been really well received!

Barry: It's been super positive. Edinburgh was its world premiere. We did a bunch of press over those few days, and it's had such a really strong response. People just went with it and really felt the plight of all the characters involved. There was a lot of sympathy for us and for the characters.