SOUTH African soap star turned budding thespian, Sello Maake ka-Ncube, is to make his powerful debut for the Royal Shakespeare Company next month.

Recently wowing the West End with his terrifying yet compassionate portrayal of Mufasa in Disney's The Lion King, the esteemed performer now hopes to set Stratford's Swan Theatre alight as Othello, the tragic Moor from Venice.

Making his name as the heir to the Moroka dynasty in South Africa's eagerly-watched "trashy but classy" soap, Generations, ka-Ncube has acted alongside Donald Sutherland and Danny Glover in A Dry White Season and appeared in the award winning Taxi to Soweto.

His role as Archie Moroka couldn't be further removed from his part in Gregory Doran's forthcoming production of Othello, which sees him reunited with fellow actor, Sir Antony Sher, playing the scheming and twisted Iago.

Sher, whose association with the RSC spans 20 years, is always a welcome face at Stratford after delivering compelling performances in The Roman Actor and The Malcontent during the Olivier Award-winning Jacobean season.

He also held the leading role in Gregory Doran's The Winter's Tale, Cyrano de Bergerac and Macbeth, which was televised for Channel 4, and appeared in his own play, ID.

Lisa Dillon, playing Othello's wronged wife, Desdemona, also makes her RSC debut after recently being nominated for a London Evening Standard Award.

Viewers might have already spotted her in Stephen Fry's Bright, Young Things, the BBC series Cambridge Spies and on stage, in the title role in Iphegenia at the Sheffield Crucible.

Othello, celebrating its 400th anniversary, marks the end of the RSC's Spring season, but starting the summer off with equal intensity is the newly-formed Core Ensemble's quintessential quartet of tragedies.

Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, King Lear and Hamlet all pledge to have theatregoers analysing the fundamental issues of life and probing the extremities of what it means to be human.

Although the world is transformed since Shakespeare's era, it's still easy to spot parallels and these four stories of family betrayal, corrupt power, revenge, obsession and accident clarify what we see every day.

Despite the despair and passionate conflict, however, they also promise to leave audiences uplifted and eager to sharpen their appetite for truth and wisdom.

The savage tale of the Macbeths, whose dark ambitions are fed by unnatural forces, starts on Saturday, March 6, directed by Dominic Cooke.

Greg Hicks, in the title role, most recently played Coriolanus at Stratford's Swan Theatre, for which he has just received an Olivier Award nomination for Best Actor.

His Lady Macbeth, Sian Thomas, is currently performing in Arthur Miller's The Price at the Apollo Theatre, London, while her last performance for the RSC was as Goneril in Yukio Ninagawa's King Lear, with the late Sir Nigel Hawthorne.

Pal Aron, aka Brandon Kane in The Bill, plays Malcolm, while Scottish actor, Forbes Masson, who has worked on the cult comedy The High Life, Rab C Nesbitt and Red Dwarf, takes on the role of Duncan.

The world's most poignant story of love and loss, Romeo and Juliet, starts on Thursday, March 25, with Matthew Rhys and Sian Brooke playing the star crossed lovers in Peter Gill's new production.

Receiving notoriety for bringing to life the role of Benjamin in the stage version of The Graduate with Kathleen Turner, Rhys has also been in ITV's POW.

Meanwhile, Brooke has appeared in Franco Zeffirelli's production of Absolutely (Perhaps!) at the Wyndham Theatre and Just a Bloke/The One With The Oven at the Royal Court.

King Lear's heartbreaking fall from noble king to broken man starts on Thursday, June 17 with Corin Redgrave in the title role, directed by Bill Alexander.

Redgrave's distinguished career includes Bertie and Elizabeth, Trial and Retribution and The Forsyte Saga on TV, the films Enduring Love and Enigma, as well as countless leading stage roles in the UK and America.

Hamlet, a young man on the edge, about to be damned, starts on Thursday, July 8, and features Toby Stephens as the Danish Prince, directed by Michael Boyd.

Stephens may be recognised by many as the ruthless villain in James Bond's Die Another Day.

But for RSC audiences, he may be best remembered for his award-winning performance as Coriolanus in David Thacker's 1994/5 Swan and Barbican Theatre production.

Tickets for Othello, at the Swan Theatre from Thursday, February 12, and the four tragedies, at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, can be booked on 0870 609 1110 or at www.rsc.org.uk