Well, I’m not sure what to make of this. A man donated his body to science, with the proviso that his skull be used in the Royal Shakespeare Company in a performance.
For years, no actor could stomach using the guy’s cranium… until one man stepped forward.
Who?
Yeah, Who. David Tennant, that Who. When he was alassing poor Yorick in his recent performance as Hamlet, the man of infinite jest was actually Polish pianist André Tchaíkowsky.
So props to Tennant for going through with it. Wait, it wasn’t a prop, it was real. Sorry about that, jokes like that are an occipitational hazard. It’s only temporal, since if I do it too much I’ll be a parietal on my own blog! I’m a fontanelle of such things, but such a frontal assault on my readers would only stem their reading habits.
So if you don’t like it, suture self.
I can’t do a hat tip, since, as Ophelia said, Hamlet had "no hat upon his head." So instead I’ll just say thanks to Rebecca, and note that when she sent me the link, she said that she’s considering donating her body to Tennant as well.
November 26th, 2008 at 11:02 am
Hee hee!!! Ha Ha!!! Stop it!!! Hee!!!
November 26th, 2008 at 11:06 am
“Hear that? That’s my skull!”
November 26th, 2008 at 11:07 am
I assume Rebecca was talking about her body well before death???
November 26th, 2008 at 11:12 am
Hey, I recognize that guy! And Tennant, too!
November 26th, 2008 at 11:15 am
Hahaha, I’m not even sure where to start!
November 26th, 2008 at 11:30 am
That’s METHOD!
November 26th, 2008 at 11:34 am
Do they plan to use it at the gLOBE theatre?
November 26th, 2008 at 11:39 am
So many puns makes MY skull want to collapse…
November 26th, 2008 at 12:03 pm
I’m surprised that even though Tennant wanted to use the skull, its use wasn’t nixed by other members of the theatre company. Actors and directors are very superstitious people and I’m sure the use of a real skull in the play is very unnerving to some of the actors.
On a side note, the superstitions almost always come true, oddly enough. When actors see something that violates what I’ve jokingly called the theatre’s chi (the arrangement of good luck charms and knick knacks that makes up an average backstage area, and the pre-show ritual of group meditation, prayer, avoidances of words or phrases, etc.) the more superstitious of those actors become convinced that something bad will happen and the show will suck, then they get tense and screw up a bunch of stuff making their “prophesy” of failure come true.
So I’m really surprised they’re letting him use the skull. I bet there are one or two actors that are screwing up their performances over the knowledge that there’s a real human skull being used in the show.
And, John, if he was really method acting, the tears would be real: He’d kill one of his friends before every show and use their head in Act V every night. The sorrow must be real. C’mon, Tennant! Show us the tears!
November 26th, 2008 at 12:08 pm
I find it interesting that the scene is supposed to be comic relief.
November 26th, 2008 at 12:13 pm
The Seventh Layer of Hell is reserved for traitors, betrayers, and bad pun makers.
November 26th, 2008 at 12:16 pm
@The Chemist
Well, Yorick was a clown. If they put a rainbow-coloured afro wig on the skull, would that help?
November 26th, 2008 at 12:16 pm
Must also give respect to the actor who played the gravedigger. He probably had to handle the skull, too.
November 26th, 2008 at 12:39 pm
Just goes to show how awesome Tennant to throw out the superstitions and use the skull. Major kudos to the good Doctor.
November 26th, 2008 at 12:41 pm
You’re killin’ me!
November 26th, 2008 at 12:50 pm
I just watched an early episode of the Canadian comedy/drama “Slings and Arrows” where a recently deceased director makes the same request of his skull.
Back to skullking in the background.
November 26th, 2008 at 12:50 pm
The intersection of science-geekdom and theatre-geekdom. I might have a geek-gasm.
November 26th, 2008 at 12:56 pm
That’s just great! Phil’s kicked off the fourth Punic War.
November 26th, 2008 at 1:07 pm
I’m surprised that you can watch Tennant observe those round orbits and not comment on kinship between actors and astronomers. But I shouldn’t complain as long as you make no bones about the stage.
November 26th, 2008 at 1:14 pm
Several years ago, Del Close, a legend in the Chicago theater and improv scene, left his skull to the Goodman Theater company for use in future productions of Hamlet. As far as I know, they haven’t done the play yet, but if they need him, they’ve got him.
November 26th, 2008 at 2:21 pm
I have a skull collection, and when we had to do Hamlet scenes in my english class senior year of high school I brought my real Chinese human skull and used it.
No one was really surprised by it though, since I always talked about skulls all the time; they all thought it was pretty typical of me.
November 26th, 2008 at 2:24 pm
Well, I think it was a generous donation and not at all bone-headed.
I do find this posting to be quite humerous!
November 26th, 2008 at 3:03 pm
Gives new meaning to the old joke “I’m donating my body to science fiction”!
November 26th, 2008 at 3:06 pm
Ed Myers Says: “The Seventh Layer of Hell is reserved for traitors, betrayers, and bad pun makers.”
Is that the makers of bad puns or pun makers who are bad? The BP? Are there good pun makers? Are there good puns? Does anyone care?
- Jack
November 26th, 2008 at 3:25 pm
Don’t worry. Nothing should go wrong as long as nobody mentions
the scottish play.
November 26th, 2008 at 4:02 pm
In response to Reed Braden’s comment “I’m really surprised they’re letting him use the skull. I bet there are one or two actors that are screwing up their performances over the knowledge that there’s a real human skull being used in the show” I can only say that I’ve seen the Tennant Hamlet (which is an awesome production: both Tennant and Patrick Stewart are very impressive) and I couldn’t detect any sign of anyone on stage being nervous or flubbing their performances because of the skull.
November 26th, 2008 at 4:12 pm
Very punny
November 26th, 2008 at 4:35 pm
Whaddaya mean, “he has no hat upon his head”?
The Doctor is clearly wearing a beanie hat in the photo.
—
To make sense of all Phil’s bad puns, you have to bone up on anatomy.
Ha ha ha!
November 26th, 2008 at 5:37 pm
A) That’s awesome, and good on DT for putting aside the heebie-jeebies to fulfill a man’s last wish.
B) Bugger… now I have to think of something new and cool to request be done with my leftovers.
November 26th, 2008 at 5:51 pm
That’s really awesome. Though, I’ve got to admit, a part of me wonders why it was ever a problem. I mean, it’s just a skull. I’d think it’d be incredibly cool to be able to use a real one in a performance!
Then again, I’ve handled animal skulls (humans included) in various states of preservation across probably every major order, so I’d not have a second thought about it. A skull’s a skull. *Shrugs*.
November 26th, 2008 at 6:06 pm
I wonder if he got a credit in the program. When I read what this composer did, I thought, “Wow, that is a great idea! I should sign up to give my skull to my local theatre company.” They do Shakespeare in the Park every year, well, not this year because of the flood.
One comedy/romance, one tragedy/history. A good use of one’s remains.
November 26th, 2008 at 6:14 pm
oh, wow. that was good.
November 26th, 2008 at 6:16 pm
There are no small parts, only small actors. And small parts of actors.
November 26th, 2008 at 7:12 pm
I think I’ll donate my heart for use in a gory trick by Penn & Teller. Then again I am an organ donor so maybe my heart should go to a faith healer as none of them have one.
P&T can make due with my skull or perhaps a hand (they can work a “middle finger” routine).
November 26th, 2008 at 7:16 pm
Stop PUNishing us.
November 26th, 2008 at 8:32 pm
So, did André get billing? He certainly nailed his lines. Of course, acting is in his bones…
November 26th, 2008 at 8:45 pm
One of the cool things about it is that in the scene Hamlet suddenly realizes that this inanimate object has a direct connection to the life of a real, specific person he knew. Now, after the production is over, we’re finding out that the inanimate prop is actually part of a real, specific person to whom the RSC was really important. It’s kind of poetic.
The other cool thing about it that it provides another excuse to run a picture of David Tennant.
November 27th, 2008 at 12:59 am
Just gotta say, that’s hilarious. Glad he finally got his wish. Now if only Charley Tuna can get his and be beheaded, gutted, and canned…
November 27th, 2008 at 1:17 am
Someday, the puns will cause a meltdown in my cerebral cortex.
November 27th, 2008 at 1:51 am
@IBY:
That’s because you are a PUNY mortal.
Now, PUNt a joke back at me…
November 27th, 2008 at 3:03 am
NO WAY !
November 27th, 2008 at 8:47 am
David Tennant:(actual misquote) “What do you mean, it’s a REAL skull,,,?”
GAry 7
November 27th, 2008 at 10:33 am
“Yorick couldn’t make it, Hello I’m André.”
Gobble, gobble.
November 27th, 2008 at 7:40 pm
I’d like to point out that I actually want to donate very specific body parts to David Tennant. That is all, thank you.