Amanda Brugel, who plays Rita in the show that was adapted from the book The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, talks about her personal connect with the narrative and its theme
The first season of The Handmaid’s Tale had taken the world by storm with its strong feminist storyline, in which a future that is oppressive and discriminatory is explored. It opened dialogue about women’s bodies and consent. It showed how a military state can overwhelmingly begin controlling the marginalised sections of society and uncovered the pitfalls of a world run by men. Amanda Brugel, who plays the character Rita, who is a Martha —a housemaid without reproductive abilities — has used silence to her benefit to portray the role. With very few dialogues, and almost like a prop at the Offred House, she remains unnoticed but observes everyone.
The second season of The Handmaid’s Tale is going to touch more on the Marthas. How did you develop the character of RitaIJ
last season, I left off a little confused as to whose side Rita was truly on. Was she a champion for GileadIJ Was she someone who was just sort of wearing a mask and doing what she had to do in order to surviveIJ I didn’t know. I had my own ideas about who she was in the book. This season, it’s more about her journey and answering those questions. Is she a champion of Gilead or is she a champion of humanityIJ We’re leaning more towards humanity, which I love. I really, truly think that Rita has one of the biggest hearts.
Handmaids, especially once they are pregnant, can sort of resist and stand up for themselves but Marthas are replaceable. She’s gone more and more inwards. That’s why I feel like she is so quiet and so subtle because she’s afraid to say anything. This season, you really see her break that mould a little and show a little of who she really is, who she was pre-Gilead, which is really interesting to play. It’s also really interesting to see a person open up, remember who they were, relive the life that they had before and reclaim some of that strength.
There’s a lot of talk in the world at the moment about intersectionality in terms of feminism. In the show, the overarching theme is gender, but with the Marthas in particular you see class intersecting as well. Is that something you thought a lot aboutIJ
Absolutely. I really try to feed it into everything about her. I would try to feed it into her physicality, the way she walks and moves. It’s interesting because I watched a lot of movies on slavery, just to watch how certain characters move, especially the women that were slaves as opposed to a character like Serena Joy, who’s lived a life of freedom. Even down to mannerisms that I’ve added to her. It’s something that I thought about a lot.
What were the films you watched about slaveryIJ
The last film I watched was 12 Years a Slave. lupita [Nyong’o] has incredible body language. You can watch it without sound and you can still see her story. I also did a lot of writing. I’m bi-racial and I did a lot of writing on my own experiences of how I felt a different class at times, so I would add that into certain themes. Especially when there were scenes with less dialogue where I just had to communicate with a look. A lot of Rita’s scenes are her communicating with a look or a glance or one word. I find I would write a whole narrative. I would write a whole scene out with words and then I would try to infuse it into the one line, so physicality really is a part of that.
One of the most terrible things about Gilead is that no one can trust anyone. Women cannot trust each other all the time. We see some hope in that situation in the last episode of Season One. Will we be seeing more of that in Season TwoIJ
Absolutely. A big theme of season two is female solidarity and unlikely relationships. I don’t want to spill anything but you think that there is a line in the sand, for certain characters, and that Rita for the most part keeps her head to the ground. She doesn’t want to get involved with the Handmaids and doesn’t want to mix anything up. She just wants to do her job and that’s it. You see those lines start to get blurred and relationships form that you don’t think would happen. People that stand on opposite sides of the fence start to shift. Especially the female relationships, they come together in really interesting ways.
The show has become a symbol. It’s become a part of a political and cultural discussion. What are your thoughts on thatIJ
It’s an absolute blessing. It’s a surprise. You don’t really start a television show thinking that it’s going to be part of a political movement or incite political change. The story has cracked open a dialogue that has been a global movement. You never anticipate that’s going to happen. It’s a privilege. It’s scary at times because you feel a sense of sort of responsibility to make sure that you maintain a clear map of where the discussion should go. You don’t want to offend anyone. You want to make sure you are keeping the discussion positive. There’s a little more pressure than your average television show.
Do you feel that the show has actually helped change thingsIJ And if so, whatIJ
I don’t know if it’s changed anything, but I do feel it has helped to spark a dialogue. I feel like it’s given people permission to openly discuss equality, the use of women’s bodies, etc. I feel like people can use it as a warning and they see the possibilities of our own society going towards something along the lines of Gilead. So people use it as almost a cautionary tale. When you’re watching what your world could possibly look like, it can become a symbol for inciting change.
Did you say in your audition that you wrote your thesis on The Handmaid’s Tale and RitaIJ
I’ve had a relationship with this book since I was 15. I wrote my thesis on it to get into university when I was 20, particularly on the character that I play. I didn’t say anything during the first rounds, no one knew that. By the second round, by the time that I had met Reed Morano (director of Ep, 101-103), I was just so excited to meet him and I didn’t know if anything was going to go forward, so I just had to tell her how much I loved the book. I had to tell her how much I loved Margaret Atwood and all of her literature. Then she started asking me more questions about my opinions and it was lovely. Because it wasn’t just an audition, it was more of a collaborative love fest about Margaret and who she is as a writer. It was an odd audition I will say, because it turned into me being nervous towards the end. I was just sitting on the table hunkered down gushing about Margaret. That was pretty cool.
The Handmaid’s Tale season 2 will premiere in October only on AXN in India.