BWW caught up with Claudia Shnier to chat about bringing Split Ends to the 2025 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
Tell us a bit about Split Ends.
'Split Ends' is an autobiographical one woman show about obsessive compulsions and psychological abuse. Basically, since I was a teenager I cut my split ends as a way to tolerate distress, but the urge is so strong sometimes that I feel quite out of control once I start cutting. Then I fell in love with the hairiest man I had ever met, who would shed his hairs all over my apartment.
The relationship evolved into a psychologically abusive one. But I became obsessed with finding his malted hairs and vacuuming them up, hairs I would find EVERYWHERE months after he had disappeared from my life. It was my way of feeling in control but then this activity, like my split ends, became so compulsive and obsessive that it started controlling me. I thought the irony of this situation was an incredible metaphor for power and abusive relationships. So the play is about falling in love with a Vacuum and Scissor to comment on the addiction to people who hurt us and forces us to question when we are meticulously in control or incredibly out of it.
Why did you feel this was an important story to tell?
While I was in the relationship, I couldn't trust my instincts and I didn't know which voice to listen to. My experiences were only validated once I started opening up to friends and family and I would receive external confirmation that things were not okay. I was being gaslit and manipulated to such an extent that my only anchor point to reality were other people's perceptions of the situation because I couldn't trust myself. Writing this play has been so incredibly healing for me personally, but I also want to validate this experience for others who have been in similar situations.
A woman approached me after the play expressing how seen she had felt and others expressed the importance of people knowing about the damages left behind. My story explores the complexities and nuances in psychologically abusive relationships that are so often misunderstood by people and maybe provides an answer to. "Why doesn't she just leave him?" Because it's not that easy, (it is that easy), but it's not.
With it being such personal subject matter, how do you plan to take care of yourself while performing the show for a month?
Well I love performing it, it gives me such a sense of empowerment. It is incredibly draining and emotional, but I leave the stage with a sense of fulfilment and pride. This might be a bit cringey, but I have never been more proud of myself, this show is my greatest accomplishment. And that self-love that I didn't have for such a long time and the need to tell this story to others is my fuel. I'm also great at compartmentalising and have booked a trip to Greece afterwards with my sister so in times of angst I will think of the ocean.
Why did you decide to tell the story in this particular format?
I use puppetry as I love the metaphors that the objects I use as puppets provide. They also have such great physical qualities that make them interesting scene partners for me, and hopefully for the audience. I use multi-media, as I converse with different versions of myself to explore ideas of a splintered identity, and the confusion about which voice to listen to, as they all blur into one. The way that I work is predominantly through voice over and sound, it makes me creatively excited and a great medium to explore the metaphors and themes I want to communicate. I also use a lot of rave/ electronic music because I love the aesthetic and energy it provides and I find it an interesting contrast to the show's darker themes.
What would you like audiences to take away from the show?
My show explores a lot of subtle signs of psychological abuse that I was oblivious to or chose to ignore. I would love for this piece to be a point of reference for people who have experienced similar situations. I want to educate people on what psychological abuse can look like and to provide them with a sense of empowerment. I would love audiences to leave thinking that maybe more things are within our control than we deem them to be and understanding that healing and growth takes a lot of time and work but it can be done.
