During the summer of her second year she was invited to Hungary to play the leading role in the first English translation of Csongor és Tünde by Peter Zollman at the Merlin International Theatre, Budapest.
During her final year at drama school Handy was offered the part of Yuliya in a new translation of Chekhov's The Wood Demon by Frank Dwyer at the Playhouse Theatre in London's West End.
She went straight onto the Royal Shakespeare Company to play Jessica in Merchant of Venice[1] and to create the role of Rhona in the premiere of Robert Holman's Bad Weather.
Much of Handy's stage work has been involved with new writing creating many roles including Anna Van Gogh in Nicholas Wright's multi award-winning play Vincent in Brixton directed by Richard Eyre for the Royal National Theatre; Rhona in Robert Holman's Bad Weather directed by Steven Pimlott for the Royal Shakespeare Company; Lou in Murray Gold's 50 Revolutions directed by Dominic Dromgoole for the Trafalgar Studios and Cathy in Polly Teale's award-winning Speechless for Shared Experience at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh.
Handy played Maudie Miller in Trevor Nunn's 2011 revival of Flare Path at the Theatre Royal Haymarket marking the centenary of Terence Rattigan's birth.