(Photo: Ray Sims)

The End of Ends by Tadeusz Bradecki

“In the great tradition of Sterne, Calvino, Kundera, and Cervantes – the tradition of dancing playfully on the abyss of all knowledge – this book by the late great Polish theatre director Tadeusz Bradecki is about nothing less than everything. God, death, theatre, teleology, post modernism, Marxism, ghosts on stage and off, two millennia of story-telling: it’s all here.” – Francis Spufford

The End of Ends by Tadeusz Bradecki combines non-fiction essays, discursions and a ‘time bending’ novel.
The End of Ends is published by CB editions (UK, 2024) and by Żywosłowie Press in Polish (Poland, 2021). 

Author and Translator: Tadeusz Bradecki (1955-2022) was a theatre director, actor and writer who worked all over the world.  He was Artistic Director of Stary Teatr in Kraków during one of its most creative periods, Director of the National Theatre in Warsaw (2003-7) and Artistic Director of the Śląski Teatr in Katowice (2007-2013). He directed over 100 shows and won many awards for both his directing and acting. He was made a Chevalier des Orders des Arts et des Lettres in 1993 in France. He appeared in over 40 films directed by Krzysztof Kieślowski, Krzysztof Zanussi, Andrzej Wajda and Stephen Spielberg. He wrote essays for Dialog for 20 years and several award-winning plays including: The Pattern of Metaphysical Evidence, Saragossa, In the Sandpit, and Nocturne. The End of Ends was written in the last year of his life.

Translator: Kate Sinclair works in film and television and runs her own company Alchemy Entertainment Ltd. She read English at York University followed by an MA in Theatre direction at Goldsmiths. She went on to train in Poland as a theatre director where she met Tadeusz Bradecki whom she later married.  She translated The End of Ends together with him in 2021.

Publisher: Charles Boyle founded the small press CB editions in 2007 after working at Faber. CB editions publishes short fiction, poetry, translations and other work which “might otherwise fall through the cracks between the big publishers” (Guardian). CB editions titles have won prizes for many of their books and have also been shortlisted for other awards.

PRAISE FOR THE BOOK

“The End of Ends is the playbook, the guide, the user’s manual on how the pilgrim soul should relate to the arts.” –  Thomas Keneally

 “…we can see in this book both an original form and a ground-breaking freshness of thought. This is supported by an impressive erudition and original humour which makes it both wise and hugely enjoyable.” – Krzysztof Zanussi

Tadeusz Bradecki entertains, elucidates, and surprises at every turn. He brilliantly and playfully weaves into this non-fictional narrative, a time-bending love story…” – Sarah Lotz

“Bradecki’s whistle-stop tour through two thousand years of dramatic literature is breathtaking… The sheer joy he takes in these texts not only arouses our curiosity, it also quickens the pulse.” – Declan Donnellan

“It’s a Russian doll of wit, insight, charm, erudition and story-telling itself.” – Daniel O’Connor