Claudia Shnier’s Split Ends, now playing at the Camden Fringe, is full of content warnings and triggers detailed by the performer herself at the start of the show.
Language, sexual assault, mental illness, self-harm. We know where we stand. As Claudia tells the story of a toxic relationship and her uncontrollable urge to snip off the split ends of her hair, trauma becomes comic.
It’s a brave way to explore control and obsession in a relationship. Using inanimate objects (vacuum, scissors, tweezers) to represent characters and act out scenes, helps make the story immediate and more shocking.
Music, movement, and video assists in building a show that rips out the reality of someone crushed by the ‘love, leave, repeat’ philosophy.
The topic of the hair Claudia snips from her head and the hair ‘Vacuum’ leaves everywhere to irritate and suffocate leads to an animated interlude and idea of being overwhelmed.
Split Ends is as raw as they come. A frankness about sexual coercion and emotional neediness is refreshing without taking it too far, and Shnier, in her black crop top and shorts, is a powerful presence.
The mantra for this show is “You are enough”. When I interviewed Shnier for her Brighton Fringe run, she said her friend compared Split Ends to ‘a Sarah Kane rave’, and that her own description would be ‘fun, trauma, party’.
Now I have seen the show, all the elements are here in this autobiographical piece. It feels right as a solo production. It has a quiet complexity behind the comedy.
Split Ends will resonate with those who have met toxic or controlling partners, especially those who have closed their ears to friendly concern and advice.
Its sheer inventiveness and friendly candour makes Split Ends a show you will be thinking about for a while.
5 stars.
You can catch Split Ends at The Water Rats as part of Camden Fringe until 20 Aug. Tickets here.
You can follow Claudia Shnier on Instagram.