Credit: Sergei Sarakhanov
By Grace Hachell
Is Split Ends the most inventive (and unsettling) love story on tour right now? After sold-out international runs and a Best Show 2025 nomination, Claudia Shnier brings her raw, multimedia exploration of coercive control and OCD across England this spring.
Right, gather round, because this one landed in my satchel and I’ve not stopped thinking about it since.
Claudia Shnier is back on the road with Split Ends, and honestly… it’s not your typical “boy meets girl” situation. More like girl meets hoover, falls in love, and somewhere along the way your stomach quietly knots because you realise what’s actually going on underneath it all.
Now, before you think I’ve lost the plot (wouldn’t be the first time), this isn’t daft for the sake of it. It’s clever. Unsettling. A bit cheeky on the surface, then suddenly it’s got its hands right round your brain going, “hang on a minute…”
The show’s already had a proper journey. Brighton Fringe, Edinburgh, Camden… even all the way over to Melbourne and Sydney, selling out as it went. And now it’s doing a regional tour across England, which means it’s coming a lot closer to home for us lot. It pops up at Edge Hill Arts Centre (9 April), Porter’s in Cardiff (18 April), Blue Orange Theatre in Birmingham (24 April), Loco Klub in Bristol (28–29 April), Alphabetti Theatre in Newcastle (13–14 May), Contact Theatre in Manchester (19–20 May), and Chyan Dome in Falmouth (17 June).
And here’s the bit I really respect – it’s also being performed in hospitals for NHS staff, after a doctor saw it in Edinburgh and basically said, “people need to see this.” That tells you everything about the impact it’s having.
So what actually happens?
We follow a woman navigating OCD and a relationship that, at first glance, looks like love… but slowly reveals itself as something much more controlling, much more damaging. And the way it’s told? Through puppetry, physical theatre, and multimedia – with scissors and a hoover standing in as characters.
A hoover.
I know. Stay with me.
Because that hoover becomes the abusive partner. In and out. Hot and cold. Loving, then gone. Saying the right things, then pulling the rug out from under her. You know that cycle? The one where you start doubting yourself more than them? That.
It’s all wrapped up in this looping metaphor of split ends – you cut one off, another appears somewhere else. Fix it, and something new breaks. Again and again. Cut, split, cut, split. You can feel the exhaustion of it.
Claudia’s pulled this from her own experiences too, which you can feel in every line. She talks about how her own voice became blurred, her gut instinct disappeared, and how performing the show actually helped her find her footing again. There’s something really powerful in that – not just telling a story, but reclaiming it.
And what’s wild is how audiences have responded. People from completely different backgrounds seeing themselves in it, recognising patterns, questioning things they maybe hadn’t before. That’s where theatre does its best work, if you ask me – when it quietly holds up a mirror and doesn’t let you look away.
The show’s been described as “as raw as they come,” and I believe it. It’s tragi-comedy, so there are moments that’ll make you laugh, but it’s that kind of laugh where you’re not entirely sure if you should be.
And the tagline? “I love you but you make me want to cut my hair.” If that doesn’t sum up chaotic love, I don’t know what does.
So yes, it’s a woman falling in love with a hoover… but really, it’s about the kind of love that chips away at you, bit by bit, until you’re not quite sure where you went.
And if a show can do all that while making you laugh, squirm, and think twice about your own “gut feeling”… well, I’d say that’s one worth catching when it rolls into town.
I’ll pop this one carefully back in the satchel, but I’ve a feeling it won’t stay there long.
Written, directed and performed by Claudia Shnier
Sound design, composition, video design and editing by Claudia Shnier
Video and audio produced by Oscar Gross
Alphabetti Theatre, Newcastle
St James’ Blvd, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 4HP
Tickets: ON SALE THURSDAY 26 FEB
Wednesday 13, Thursday 14 May 2026
7.30 pm
60 mins
Age 18+ (guideline)
Event warning: Contains references to mental health disorders, sexual content, self harm
https://www.alphabettitheatre.co.uk/split-ends
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