Split Ends: Coercive Control Show Comes to Chyan Dome, Falmouth

A doctor from the Carn to Coast Health Centre went to the Edinburgh Fringe, watched a one-woman show about coercive control built around a vacuum cleaner, and decided Cornwall needed to see it.

That show is Split Ends, and it arrives at Chyan Dome near Falmouth on Wednesday 17 June, the final stop on its UK tour.

Content note: this piece and the show itself deal with coercive control, OCD, self-harm and sexual content. Split Ends is for ages 18 and over.

From an Edinburgh stage to a hospital ward

The doctor who saw Split Ends in Edinburgh invited its creator, Claudia Shnier, to bring the work to both the hospital and the wider community. The aim was to open up conversations about coercive control, mental health and the body.

The show does more than play to ticket-buying audiences. As part of the tour it is staged in hospitals for NHS staff, prompting them to talk about coercive control and the toll it takes on physical and mental health. The Falmouth date is the one Cornwall audiences can book for themselves.

A vacuum cleaner as the villain

Shnier created, wrote, directed and performs the show, with audio produced by Oscar Gross. It draws on her own life. The story follows a woman’s journey through OCD and a coercive relationship, told using scissors and hoovers as puppets. The hoover is the abusive partner, a literal stand-in for the man whose behaviour provokes and feeds her OCD.

The production pulls together autobiography, physical theatre, puppetry, video and sound. It has been described as a “Sarah Kane rave.” It was nominated for Best New Show at the 2025 Brighton Fringe, where it premiered, before runs in London, Edinburgh, Melbourne and Sydney.

Finding a voice again

Shnier has said the show began as a way to validate and process her own memories, with the autobiographical material at the front of her mind. As audiences responded, she watched how widely the story landed with people from very different backgrounds, and the piece grew from there.

She has talked about how detached her own inner voice had become, and how that left her open to a partner’s words and promises. Performing the show for the first time in Brighton was the turning point. That was when she “found my voice again,” she said, and her power started to return.

Split Ends in Falmouth

Chyan Dome, Penryn, near Falmouth. Wednesday 17 June, 7pm. Running time 60 minutes, ages 18 and over. Tickets for the Falmouth date are on sale now through Ticket Tailor: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/swampcircustrust/2121685