Alas, poor Yorick, you are too much of a distraction

The Royal Shakespeare Company has decided it will no longer use a human skull in its production of Hamlet in case it distracts the audience.

The skull of concert pianist and Holocaust survivor Andrew Tchaikowsky has been used in the famous "Alas, poor Yorick!" scene for the play in Stratford-upon-Avon, which stars David Tennant.

Audiences in Stratford were unaware it was real until Tennant revealed that Mr Tchaikowsky bequeathed his skull to the RSC because it was his dying wish to have it used for Hamlet. The Doctor Who star, who was the first actor to use Mr Tchaikowsky's skull, will now use a fake one when the production opens in London tonight.

A spokesman for the RSC said now the secret was out it would be "too distracting for the audience". But Mr Tchaikowsky's former agent and friend Terry Harrison said he was "disappointed" by the decision and that his client, who died of cancer in 1982, "hated" the use of a plastic skull.