Writer and Director: Claudia Shnier
Claudia Shnier gives us trigger warnings at the start of her endlessly inventive show about mental health and abusive relationships. You might feel like strapping up your seatbelt, but the ride is thrilling, and you’ll never be able to look at your vacuum cleaner in the same light again after spending 60 minutes in Shnier’s company.
Split Ends begins like a relaxed stand-up routine, but quickly we realise that this casual opening is a ruse. The rest of the play is slickly rehearsed, and the sound design and the projections come together beautifully. With just a couple of chairs on stage and that vacuum cleaner, Shnier’s story is clear and as sharp and dangerous as the scissors she holds in her hand.
However, there are two tales to be told, and it takes a while for them to merge into a single strand. The first is about Shnier’s compulsion to epilate. When she was a child back in Australia, she started cutting off her split ends, and then later, with tweezers, she began to pull out the hairs on her arms. She felt release when she saw the tiny hairs on the floor, ready to be collected. But it was a compulsion that spiralled. Seeking help, she was told to exert more self-control.
The second story begins as a romantic one. Shnier meets a man and falls in love with him, not really put off by his assertion that he talks to God and that God talks back. The honeymoon period is quick, but after arguments and break-ups, Shnier always agrees to restart the relationship when he calls. She knows that he is no good for her, but like the hair removal, taking him back is a compulsion that she has no discipline over. Soon, she sees his dark hairs everywhere.
With these two stories now colliding, Split Ends feels more cohesive, and although it’s very funny in places, Shnier’s play is also unsettling, covering sensitive material in imaginative ways. Shnier is a real tour de force, and you’re with her all the way.
Runs until 20 August 2025
Camden Fringe runs until 24 August 2025
