He wants his skull in “Hamlet”. Until now, skulls were used … a Pole

David Tennant is one of the actors adored in Great Britain, who has not only had dozens of television and film roles in British cinema, but also theater roles on the most important scenes in the country. In a conversation in the podcast “Off Menu” he was asked if he would consider giving his own body to theatrical plays.

David Tennant would like to give his own skull to the theater

Some actors are enough to play their role. However, props are necessary for many roles. It is hard to imagine “Hamlet” without the famous scene with a prince holding the Yorick’s skull – this is one of the most important symbolic fragments of Shakespeare. In the vast majority of theaters, the skull is artificial, but not in the London The Royal Shakespeare Company. Here, the actor playing the role of Hamlet can come out with a real human skull. There is also a Polish accent, because this part of the skeleton belongs to a Pole who died in 1982, the musician of Andrzej Czajkowski. David Tennant in an interview with “Off Menu” admitted that he would be willing to give his own skull after his death for the needs of the theater:

We used the real human skull of a guest, which was called Andrzej Czajkowski, he was a musician and after death he wrote The Royal Shakespeare Company his skull for the needs of “Hamlet”. There was nothing to pretend here. I kept Andrzej, who was Yorick. You could feel the seriousness of the situation, but not macabre. At this point of art, there is a connection to mortality, you don’t even have to play – you look straight into the eyes of a man who once lived. It has power in it – said Tennant.

– I would gladly appear in such a different role in “Hamlet”, there is something glorious about it. It would be an honor – he said. The actor added, however, that the chances of preventing the whole procedure to be miserable. Andrzej Czajkowski has already encountered a wall of legal restrictions, which years ago were not as rigorous as now.

Now you would have to combine a lot, and there are also a lot of offices that probably would not like the idea of ​​doing something different with body parts than cremation. Andrzej was probably the last person who managed to make such a record. His skull is still there and can be used in “Hamlet” – said the actor.

Who was Andrzej Czajkowski?

As we read in Rzeczpospolita, Andrzej Czajkowski was an outstanding man. As a Polish Jew, he hid during the occupation in Warsaw, and before the end of the war he left Poland. He was colorful, extremely talented, with eccentric ideas for those times. He played, toured, composed, but did not forget about other passions. He loved Shakespeare, in particular “Hamlet” – he knew art by heart. In the will, he asked to convey the body for the needs of medicine, and the skull – to The Royal Shakespeare Company. Seven years after his death, he “appeared” in Marek Rylance’s handsbut it was not decided, according to “Guardian”, to “use” his services for another almost 30 years. For Rylance, as Telegraph writes, the impression was too tangible – he could not find out that he was holding not a Pole Andrzej, but a jester Yorick. Czajkowski served mainly on rehearsals, and if he was taken on stage in front of the audience, this fact was carefully hidden so as not to cause a scandal.

In 2009, David Tennant took Tchaikovsky on the stage, which thanks to my secret passed unnoticed in the media. Director Greg Doran wanted to avoid confusion. “It could dominate art, everyone would only say that David occurs with a real skull” – he said in an interview with” Telegraph. ” Yorick -Czajkowski is to wait for his moment in the propeller of the Royal Shakespeare Company – in an honorary place with respect due to him.