A PLAY that hasn’t been staged for 400 years is one of the productions the Royal Shakespeare Company will be unveiling later this year as part of its continuing commitment to celebrate the work of Shakespeare’s contemporaries in the surroundings of Stratford’s intimate Swan Theatre.

John Ford’s Love’s Sacrifice is going to be directed by Matthew Dunster, who will be making his RSC debut with this more than rarely performed but thrilling revenge tragedy that is powered by the destructive force of unrequited love. An associate artist at the Young Vic Ford's production, Liberian Girl, opens at the Royal Court this month.

Staged for the first time in four centuries, Love’s Sacrifice was the winning play of the Scholar’s Pitch, a challenge set by RSC artistic director, Gregory Doran, for academics to suggest a forgotten 17th century play that would appeal to a modern audience.

At the centre of this tale of jealousy is the beautiful Bianca who will be played by Catrin Stewart, most well-known for her recent roles as Jenny Flint in Doctor Who and Emma in Ruth Jones’ Sky 1 comedy drama series, Stella.

Playing her devoted and jealous husband the Duke of Pavy, a character with echoes of Shakespeare’s Othello, is Matthew Needham who returns to the RSC following the 2013 productions of Candide and Titus Andronicus. He is currently appearing in The Knight of the Burning Pestle at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse.

Love’s Sacrifice plays in the Swan Theatre from April and full casting has been announced not only for this production but also the RSC’s other summer production of The Jew of Malta, which opens a month earlier in March.

Also making his RSC debut will be Justin Audibert when he directs Christopher Marlowe’s play of religious conflict and revenge in which Jasper Britton will play the complex Machiavellian protagonist, Barabas.

The two productions are cross-cast and among those on stage will be the former television talent show host, the Olivier award-winning Matthew Kelly, who has forged a considerable theatre career in the past decade. He will be playing the part of Friar Jacomo in The Jew of Malta and Mauruccio in Love’s Sacrifice.