THE cross-cast company has been announced for the Royal Shakespeare Company’s (RSC) productions of Cymbeline and King Lear in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre later this year.

Cymbeline opens on April 29 and runs through to August 12, while King Lear goes on stage from August 20 through to October 15.

Gillian Bevan, known for her role in the Channel 4 comedy, Teachers, will play the British ruler Cymbeline, and Antony Sher will be taking on the title role in Gregory Doran’s production of King Lear.

Bevan will be the first woman to take on the role of Cymbeline for the RSC, and will do so among a cast which sees many roles traditionally played by men performed by women - with Doreene Blackstock set to play Cornelius, Natalie Simpson the role of Guiderius and Kelly Williams will play Pisanio.

Bethan Cullinane, who took on the roles of Desdemona, Cordelia, the Fool and Jessica for the Globe Theatre, will play Innogen and Hiran Abeysekera, who will play Puck in Russell T Davies’ TV adaptation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, to be broadcast on the BBC later this year, plays Posthumus.

Following his performance as Willy Loman in Arthur Miller’s great 20th century American tragedy - Death of a Salesman, Antony Sher returns to play King Lear, one of the greatest parts written by Shakespeare, while RSC Associate Artist, David Troughton, who was last at the RSC playing the lead in The Shoemaker’s Holiday (2014/15), will play Gloucester.

The production is directed by RSC Artistic Director Gregory Doran and will see Natalie Simpson making her RSC debut as Cordelia, having just played Juliet in the Young Vic’s Measure for Measure (2015).

Other cast members from Doran’s ‘King and Country’ cycle of history plays, Antony Byrne and Nia Gwynne, will play Kent and Goneril. Byrne is currently in Jericho on ITV has recently featured in Law and Order: UK. Gwynne is known for her role as Gail in the BAFTA- and BIFA-winning film Pride.