LONDON (AP) — A Polish pianist has made his stage debut in Britain, 26 years after his death.

Andrzej Tchaikowsky's skull featured in performances of "Hamlet" by the Royal Shakespeare Company between July and November, company spokeswoman Nada Zakula said yesterday.

It was the first time the skull was used in a performance — his expressed wish — though the company had used it in rehearsals since it was donated in 1982.

Tchaikowsky's 1979 will had asked that his skull be offered to the Royal Shakespeare Company "for use in theatrical performance."

"We hope that he would have been pleased that his final wish has been realised," company curator David Howells said.

It was unclear if the skull would be used when the company's production moves from its base in Stratford-upon-Avon to London on December 3, Zakula said.

Tchaikowsky, a fan of William Shakespeare's plays, had finished orchestrating all but 24 bars of his operatic adaptation of "The Merchant of Venice" when he died from stomach cancer on June 26, 1982.

News of his unique bequest became known soon after.

"He was passionate about Shakespeare and attended many performances," Terry Hands told the AP in 1982 when he was joint artistic director of the company. "We are honored by his bequest."

Andrzej Czajkowski was born in 1935 in the Polish capital of Warsaw as Robert Andrzej Krauthammer, but was given his new name on false identity documents used to smuggle him out of Nazi-occupied Warsaw in 1942, according to a Web site dedicated to the musician.