Human skull steals the stage

David Tennant. Photo / AP

A real human skull has stolen the show in a production of Hamlet starring Dr Who actor David Tennant, prompting the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) to stop using it.

The skull of Polish pianist Andre Tchaikovsky proved too distracting for the audience and would be replaced by a plastic prop when the play
transfers to London's West End, the RSC told Channel 4 News in
Britain.

The origin of the skull had been kept a secret throughout the play's four-month run in Shakespeare's home town of Stratford-upon-Avon before Tennant revealed in an interview that it belonged to Tchaikovsky.

The pianist left his skull to the RSC in 1982 after he died of cancer, to be used on stage in Hamlet. But Tennant was the first actor to use Tchaikovsky's skull during the famous grave-digger scene.