Handcart Ensemble ~ David and Bathsheba

David and Bathsheba

A famous Old Testament incident lends the suspenseful backdrop for this new verse drama. King David of Israel, declining to join his troops in battle one year, has a brief affair with Bathsheba, wife of one of his best soldiers. On learning Bathsheba has become pregnant, David fears the impending discovery of their affair will put his crown at risk. His determination to cover up the liaison at any cost sets the play’s tragic events in motion and provides an incisive examination of the origins of evil.

There were 7 performances at American Theatre of Actors, Beckmann Stage, from November 3 to November 10, 2001.

The New York Theatre Experience lamented the too-short run of this play, and commended the Ensemble “for their commitment to uncompromising, challenging new work with real moral heft and significance.”

The Cast

Meredith Higbee
Paul Lewis-Ferguson
James Mack*
Antonio Macia
Barrett Ogden
Colby Trane
Joy Walton

The Crew

Director / Writer

J. Scott Reynolds

Costumes

Nancy Yam

Lighting

Tamara Shelp

* Member, Actors’ Equity

About Us

Old Wine in New Bottles

Handcart Ensemble produces new adaptations, new translations, and new works for the theater, drawing primarily from classical sources. Read our mission statement for more information.

Handcart's Horizon

Watch here for details on productions planned for the coming year and seasons, which include a reading of Racine's Iphigenia in a glorious new translation by poet Rachel Hadas, a full production of Homer's Odyssey as adapted by poet Simon Armitage, and a startlingly orginal version of Dylan Thomas's Under Milk Wood (for which a teaser will appear in our December benefit of A Child's Christmas in Wales: Stories and Poems by Dylan Thomas); all from a company described as "the city’s most reliable and interesting presenter of contemporary renditions of classic theatre texts (NYTheatre.com)."