Lady Macbeth is among the most powerful, resolute and ruthlessly ambitious female characters ever written. Her role in urging her husband Macbeth to murder King Duncan and seize the throne is bloody and scheming. And the chance to depict her complex character on stage is coveted by many actors.

This very opportunity has arisen for Bend It Like Beckham’s Shaheen Khan as she takes on the role in a contemporary Asian production of Shakespeare’s darkest tragedy, Macbeth, at Finchley’s artsdepot.

“My heart’s absolute desire as an actor, and as a British Asian actor, was to do a Shakespeare,“ says Shaheen, who was born in Tanzania to Indian parents.

During her early career, the mother-of-two memorised a Lady Macbeth speech to audition for a Kenneth Branagh Shakespeare production. She didn’t get the part, but this only fuelled her desire to eventually play the role.

She says: “Just out of the blue this came and it was fantastic. Initially I thought: ’I’ve never done Shakespeare’, and my stomach just flipped about ten times. It’s certainly my dream come true.“

It’s hard to believe Shaheen, an experienced actor with credits including an appearance at the Royal National Theatre in the comedy Rafta, Rafta..., has never acted in a Shakespearian play. And what a role to begin with.

The former Tufnell Park resident jokes: “My Macbeth is a lot younger than me – I’m going to tell him how old I am when we finish.

"I’m just playing it with my instinct and knowing that it’s the most wonderful text and actually Shakespeare gives you some of the clues of how to play it.“

Her road to get to this point in her career has not always been smooth, and in 2010 she was forced to take a break from acting while she battled and overcame breast cancer.

She explains: “I was ready for a big challenge, so it was just fantastic to do this. In a way it’s parking that illness and moving on for me as well. Not just forgetting it, but learning from it. When I’m in the wings I say to myself: ’You got through that, compared to that, calm down’.“

And 28 years after she began her career at the multi-cultural theatre company Tara Arts, Shaheen is returning to her roots for this production.

“For me this is a personal journey as well and coming back to work with Tara Arts is quite wonderful.“

Directed by Jatinder Verma, Tara Arts’ production, in conjunction with Queen’s Hall Arts and Black Theatre Live, brings the 400-year-old play bang up-to-date in an British Asian setting.

The prophesying three witches, who predict Macbeth’s rise to the throne and eventual downfall, are replaced in this production by a contemporary Indian and Pakistani equivalent – hijras: transsexuals or transgender people believed by some to carry mystical power to wish bad luck or good fortune upon people.

Also brought into the mix is a variety of Indian movement, music and costume, transporting the play, originally set in Scotland, nearly 5,000 miles to India. However the eight-strong cast is sticking to the original dialogue.

Shaheen, who moved to the UK in 1971, says: “Shakespeare’s stories are universal, it’s wonderful to see it in an Asian setting in Britain. I like the way Jatinder Verma has done it, that the past comes into the present. I like that feel.

“As British Asians people are trying to box us, but we’re not box-able really. We’re all individual, we’re all different. With this play there’s a lot of people who are married or in relations with Scottish people, so you have those influences. I love the idea of us in Britain embracing all these different things, and who we are.

“For me it’s showing the old world, but also the new world. I feel like Shakespeare’s stories have continued so long, because people do the same thing over and over again,“ muses Shaheen.

She says: “I love it, it frightens the life out of me, but I love it. Also, I love the camaraderie, you’re an ensemble, you’re working together, and hopefully giving people a great night out – that’s what I hope.“

artsdepot, Nether Street, Tally Ho Corner, North Finchley, March 20 to 21, Friday, 10am and 7.30pm, Saturday, 7.30pm. Details: 020 8369 5454, artsdepot.co.uk