‘Split Ends’ arrives at Alphabetti Theatre, Newcastle this month, bringing a bold and unsettling piece of contemporary performance to the city’s intimate fringe scene. Written and performed by Claudia Shnier, the production blends dark comedy, physical theatre, and psychological intensity into a surreal exploration of obsession, control, and emotional dependency.
At the centre is Claudia, a woman whose fixation with her own hair spirals into an increasingly unstable relationship with a vacuum cleaner that becomes both companion and threat. What begins in absurdist humour gradually shifts into something more disquieting, as the line between intimacy and control starts to blur.
Framed as a “Sarah Kane rave”, ‘Split Ends’ uses multimedia performance, puppetry, and heightened physicality to construct a world that feels fractured, unstable, and emotionally charged. The vacuum itself becomes a shifting symbol – comic at times, but increasingly unsettling as the narrative unfolds.
Rather than offering resolution, the piece leans into discomfort, exploring how easily love can become entanglement and how cycles of harm can be disguised as attachment. It exists in the space between satire and psychological breakdown, refusing to settle into a single genre or interpretation.
Presented in Alphabetti’s small-scale, 80-seat venue, the production continues the theatre’s reputation for championing experimental, risk-taking work within the North East cultural landscape.
‘Split Ends’ is inventive, uneasy, and intentionally hard to define – an example of fringe theatre at its most compelling.
Tickets, priced from £3.00 in advance, are available at alphabettitheatre.co.uk.
