mattea conforti matilda the testaments becka handmaid's tale interview shoot feature danica robinson tanya fevzi polyesterzine polyester zine magazine — New-Jersey-girl-at-heart Mattea Conforti played Matilda on Broadway when she was just nine years old. It was the role that made life as an actress feel possible, but for her, it never felt like “work” - rather a hobby she would do after school.
Those years of her life were when she discovered her love of performance; she was happiest when she was dancing, singing, or acting. But, it was more about the all-rounded experience of being on stage - doing her hair and makeup, creating her own “presence,” and expressing herself artistically - that she fell in love with.

While she may be the creative anomaly in her family of doctors and lawyers, it’s their support and commitment to her dreams that has led her to all the exciting things she’s doing today. Her latest role as Becka in The Testaments is her most challenging, and impressive, yet. In Margaret Atwood’s Gilead, much like in real life, Mattea is curious, headstrong, and layered, and her performance alongside co-stars Chase Infiniti, Rowan Blanchard, and Lucy Halliday is breathtakingly powerful - even though the season ends with her locked away in her room. With the series renewed for a second season that Mattea is desperate to start filming, we sit down to talk about being a teenage girl, expressing female rage, and filming in Canada.

Let’s talk about The Testaments. What were you thinking when you read the script for the first time?

The script was under the code name ‘Dollhouse’, but then as I'm reading the language, I start to see a few ‘praise be’s’ or I see the aunts and then I see ‘May the Lord open’ and I'm like, okay, this is obviously something within the realm of the Handmaid's Tale. And growing up, I have been a huge Handmaid's Tale and Margaret Atwood fan. She's always been so ahead of her time and I just think she'll always remain so timeless in that way. I was just in shock that I had the opportunity to audition for this and I wanted to put my best foot forward because I really wanted to make my mark on this universe. And I was really excited to step into a character with so many layers and who offered a totally new perspective on Gilead.

Once you got to Canada, what was it like on set?

It was a sisterhood from the start. Working with Chase, Rowan, and Lucy has just been such an amazing experience and has taught me so many new things. It was really amazing to have such a talented group of women where everybody is giving their 110% every day, and when you hear ‘cut’, everybody is just best friends. We were able to get in and out of that Gilead mindset with each other and remain really close off set as well as on set, which really helped with our characters' relationships.

What was your favourite scene to film?

The scene where Daisy is becoming a plum and we have all these boxes out and she's being dressed. That day, none of us could keep a straight face, there was just something in the air. But we would have these setups where the camera would just be facing us and we would open a box and then just have to stare into the camera and people were just dying laughing. I don't know how we got any footage out of that. It was the silliest day we had on set. I think that was my favourite one to film because no one was serious and people were getting a bit mad. Even when we're having those big sacrifice scenes or something like that, it feels a bit silly when you're doing it. So it's easy for me to start laughing and I feel like I laughed a lot on set. But we'd be able to lock in when we needed to.

“I hope that our characters can kind of give an outlet for girls to look up to and to realise that it's okay to be struggling with things and it's okay to have emotions that aren't necessarily happy all the time.”

The show deals with female rage, specifically experienced by teenage girls. Do you think that this was portrayed well?

Definitely. These girls deal with a lot of suppression throughout their lives because in Gilead, they can't express themselves the way that they want to. So when they have those pockets of little moments where they're allowed to scream or they're allowed to show a little bit of emotion, it's kind of just unravelling every emotion that they have been dealing with or suppressing for such a long time.

Do you think that this representation lets other girls know that it's okay to feel that way?

1000%. As a young teenage girl, it's so easy to make yourself feel like you're crazy for having strong emotions about something. You're going through so much, you're questioning yourself, you're questioning your environment, and it's not normalised for girls to have these strong emotions and these strong reactions to their world and everything that they've known. So I hope that our characters can kind of give an outlet for girls to look up to and to realise that it's okay to be struggling with things and it's okay to have emotions that aren't necessarily happy all the time.

“I think there's so much innovation and so much creativity within a teenage girl.”

Becka and Agnes have a really complicated relationship in the show. You're each other’s competition and you’re also in love with her. You conveyed the depth of this relationship really well. How did you tap into that?

Thank you. When I first arrived in Canada, I sat down with Bruce Miller and Mike Barker to discuss this new element to Becka, where she is so infatuated and in love with Agnes, not only romantically, but also as a best friend. They live in a world where even best friends aren't allowed. So there's a ton of suppression with her platonic feelings towards Agnes because those feelings are so condemnable and so punishable in Gilead. Allowing Becka to question herself and be different, but also suppress her feelings for her safety was kind of always that tug of war in my head when I was playing those moments, but, luckily, Chase made it so easy to be in love with her.

Becka, more than any other character, rejects the predestined way of life in Gilead. Why do you think that she is more concerned than the other girls?

I think she is more aware of the harsh realities of what this future has to bring for these girls.

They’re taught that their ultimate destiny is to become a wife and to become a mother and it's supposed to be this beautiful, positive thing. But Becka feels so differently, internally. She doesn't want to marry a man. She wants to have a life with Agnes and she wants to stay young and have her friends around her all the time. She doesn't want to grow up in that kind of way. So, I think that makes it easier for her to be hesitant, but she can also see through some of the lies the aunts are telling. She still believes in the system of Gilead and justice and serving God, but she doesn't want to do that through a man, which is what sets her apart.

At the end of the last episode, Daisy says “Nothing can be more powerful than a teenage girl.” Do you agree?

1000%. Teenage girls are so underestimated and you never know their full capabilities. That state of life is when you're changing the most and you're questioning the most and you're seeing all these different possibilities of the way life can be and the way your world can work. I think there's so much innovation and so much creativity within a teenage girl.

Mattea Conforti on Teenage Rage, On Set Friendships and Normalising Strong Emotions for Girls

“I hope that our characters can kind of give an outlet for girls to look up to and to realise that it's okay to be struggling with things and it's okay to have emotions that aren't necessarily happy all the time.”

“I think there's so much innovation and so much creativity within a teenage girl.”

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