2025
Keski-Uudenmaan teatteri

Play by Marta Barceló
Direction: Lija Fischer
Sound Design and Music: Viljami Lehtonen
Scenography: Ia Ensterä
Lighting Design: Olli Tamminen

Premiere January 16th 2025

Tocar Mare is a touching yet playful drama by Marta Barceló that tells the story of a businesswoman who hires a mother through a subscription service. The mother, facing financial hardship, posts an ad seeking unconventional work—an offer the businesswoman takes up. At first, their arrangement is practical and seemingly harmless, but as emotional complexities unfold, their relationship deepens beyond what either expected.

The play’s tone is a delicate balance between sharp social commentary and emotional intimacy, making it rewarding for sound design. I leaned into this duality by blending whimsical, lighthearted sound elements with more emotionally resonant musical arcs. Nostalgia is a strong theme in the text, so for the timbre, I opted for organic and orchestrated instruments to evoke warmth and memory. For this production, I also composed several recurring musical motifs that helped anchor emotional transitions throughout the narrative.

One particularly fun aspect of the process was how the play’s critique of capitalist structures initially inspired me to explore light orchestral music reminiscent of 1950s American commercials—those cheerful jingles used to sell refrigerators and modern lifestyles. However, as rehearsals progressed, I pivoted toward a more contemporary, French-inspired sound palette, taking cues from composers like Yann Tiersen (Amélie), whose music captures both charm and melancholy.

After finalizing my sound direction, I researched other adaptations of the play (I always do this only after locking in my artistic choices to avoid unintentional influence). To my surprise, I discovered that the Spanish production had used exactly the kind of light orchestral music I originally considered. It was an amusing and satisfying confirmation that certain ideas resonate across borders—sound designers often arrive at similar inspirations when responding to the same text.

Themes & Additional Reflections
Tocar Mare explores several layered themes:

• Motherhood as a commodity – challenging the idea of emotional labor in transactional terms.
• Loneliness and emotional outsourcing – portraying how modern life often substitutes connection with convenience.
• Memory and longing – showing how our pasts shape our present relationships.
• The absurdity of hypercapitalism – especially through the concept of a “mother subscription.”

These themes guided my sound choices, helping to support the play’s shifts between realism and reconstructed memories. Transitions in the sound design mirrored the evolving dynamics between the characters—at times sharp and jarring, at others, soft and wistful.