Yorick
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Yorick is an unseen character in William Shakespeare's play Hamlet. He is the court jester whose skull is exhumed by the First Gravedigger in Act 5, Scene 1, of the play. The sight of Yorick's skull e
Yorick's skull in the 'gravedigger scene' (5.1). Hamlet and Horatio in the Graveyard by Eugène Delacroix, 1839
The Young Lord Hamlet (Philip Hermogenes Calderon, 1868), depicting a living Yorick bearing the young prince on his back.
A statue of Prince Hamlet contemplating Yorick's skull in Stratford-upon-Avon.
David Tennant used the cranium of pianist André Tchaikowsky for Yorick's skull in a 2008 Royal Shakespeare Company production.
André Tchaikowsky
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André Tchaikowsky was a Polish composer and pianist. In addition to his musical work, he is also notable for bequeathing his skull to the Royal Shakespeare Company for use as Yorick in Hamlet.
Yorick
…made from materials such as wood, plaster, papier-mâché, fibreglass, and plastic. However, real human skulls have also been used for the role. Pianist André Tchaikowsky, who died in 1982, donated his skull to the Royal Shakespeare Company for use in theatrical productions, hoping that it would be used as the skull of…
André Tchaikowsky as a young man