The Royal Shakespeare Company of Stratford-upon-Avon, England, says its production of Hamlet will no longer use a real human skull when it moves to London. The company said a fake skull will be used in place of Polish pianist Andre Tchaikowsky's skull to depict the remains of the titular character's deceased jester, Yorick, as of the play's Thursday night opening in London's West End, the Daily Mail reported Thursday. Tchaikowsky, a Polish man who escaped the Holocaust, left instructions prior to his death from cancer in 1982 that his skull was to be given to the Royal Shakespeare Company for use in productions of Hamlet.

An English concert pianist who died 26 years ago has been granted his final wish -- to appear on stage in Hamlet playing the skull in the graveyard scene. Andre Tchaikowsky's skull has been used in rehearsals since he willed it to the Royal Shakespeare Company, The Sun reported.