Deryk Mendel (1920 – 28 May 2013) was a British ballet dancer, choreographer, actor and director. He was a friend of

Samuel Beckett Samuel Barclay Beckett (; 13 April 1906 – 22 December 1989) was an Irish novelist, dramatist, short story writer, theatre director, poet, and literary translator. His literary and theatrical work features bleak, impersonal and tragicomic expe ...

, who wrote the one-act mime ''

Act Without Words I ''Act Without Words I'' is a short play by Samuel Beckett. It is a mime, Beckett's first (followed by '' Act Without Words II''). Like many of Beckett's works, the play was originally written in French (''Acte sans paroles I''), being translate ...

'' for him in 1956. Music was by his cousin

John S. Beckett John Stewart Beckett (5 February 1927 – 5 February 2007) was an Irish musician, composer and conductor; cousin of the famous writer and playwright Samuel Beckett. Youth and education John and his twin sister Ann were born in Sandymount ...

. Mendel performed the premiere on 3 April 1957 at the

Royal Court Theatre The Royal Court Theatre, at different times known as the Court Theatre, the New Chelsea Theatre, and the Belgravia Theatre, is a non-commercial West End theatre in Sloane Square, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, Englan ...

in London. On 14 June 1963, Mendel directed the premiere of Becket's ''

Play Play most commonly refers to: * Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment * Play (theatre), a work of drama Play may refer also to: Computers and technology * Google Play, a digital content service * Play Framework, a Java framework * Pla ...

'' (as ''Spiel'') at the Ulmer Theatre in Ulm-Donau, Germany. On 13 April 1966, Beckett’s sixtieth birthday, Mendel appeared as Joe in the premiere of ''

Eh Joe ''Eh Joe'' is a piece for television, written in English by Samuel Beckett, his first work for the medium. It was begun on the author's fifty-ninth birthday, 13 April 1965, and completed by 1 May. “It asfollowed by six undated typescripts (nu ...

'' by Süddeutscher Rundfunk,

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...

, the first time that Beckett himself had directed. In 1968, Mendel directed one of the first English performances of Beckett's ''

Come and Go ''Come and Go'' is a short play (described as a "dramaticule" on its title page) by Samuel Beckett. It was written in English in January 1965 and first performed (in German) at the Schillertheater, Berlin on 14 January 1966. Its English language ...

'' at the Royal Festival Hall, with

Adrienne Corri Adrienne Corri (born Adrienne Riccoboni; 13 November 1931 – 13 March 2016) was a Scottish actress. Early life She was born Adrienne Riccoboni in Glasgow in November 1931, the daughter of an English mother (Olive Smethurst) and an Italian f ...

, Marie Kean and Billie Whitelaw in the roles of Flo, Vi, and Ru. He died in Saint-Ouen, France on 28 May 2013.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mendel, Deryk 1920 births 2013 deaths British male actors British male ballet dancers British theatre directors