"Alas, poor...Tchaikovsky?"

It's coming up to one of my favourite times of the year - teaching Hamlet. Such a great play.

So it is fitting that I accidentally came across this ABC news article the other day - "Human skull dumped from Dr Who's Hamlet". When ex-Doctor Who David Tennant was playing Hamlet for the 2009 RSC production, the skull that was used as Yorick's was in fact the real skull of pianist Andre Tchaikovsky (as far as I can see, no relation to the Russian composer).

Andre Tchaikovsky left the skull to the RSC in his will, asking specifically that it be used as a prop. Apparently, until David Tennant used it, no one had been brave enough. The ABC report states that the skull was discontinued as a prop because audiences found it disturbing, however Wikipedia reports that the skull was kept in use throughout the production's transfer to London, as well as in BBC DVD recording.

In keeping with this Shakespeare/Dr Who connection, YouTube has some great clips from the Dr Who episode, "The Shakespeare Code", in which the Doctor (David Tennant) and Martha travel back in time to help Shakespeare battle witches who disrupt the writing of his new play, Love's Labours Found. A fun episode, though note that it does contain witches who cast spells, etc.

I've also started using the film Shakespeare in Love as an introduction to Shakespeare and Elizabethan England. This film is rated M15+ for medium level sex scenes, so you may need to choose clips if you intend showing it to younger grades. The many cultural references are hilarious - blink, and you'll miss them! Can't believe this movie is 13 years old! It was one of our faves in high school.