This a work of non-fiction, yet it’s highly theatrical. The artist bears witness to her experience, yet her method of telling her truth eschews any mundane assertions of a flat objectivity.
Instead we’re gifted a rich, high-energy performance that serves as an invitation into her emotional and psychological world. We’re not shown a mere map; we’re given a personal tour of the landscape.
Writer/performer Claudia Shnier presents her experiences of obsessive compulsive disorder and of an abusive relationship. The latter seems to exacerbate the former. It’s a story of suffering, but also of strength and resilience.
Shnier employs multimedia to suggest intrusive voices, and her interaction with the technology is superb.
A pair of scissors, a pair of tweezers and a vacuum cleaner double both as their everyday selves and as people in her life, and the commitment to the theatrical metamorphosis of each prop is fascinating.
Shnier’s delivery moves between a fast-paced-almost-aggressive swagger, a playful humour, and a deeply-moving, bewildered vulnerability.
I’ve written previously about the oddness of autobiographical theatre. It seems strange to use the artform for personal sharing, considering the glory of theatre usually derives from its multi-voiced possibilities. And perhaps even more threatening to the autobiographical purpose is the fact that – more than most artforms – theatre seems to court a very public judgement, one as unreflective as it is immediate.
But if sharing is the goal, there are few means more direct and more powerful than standing before an audience and opening one’s heart. And considering that the sting of many a pain is worsened by the fear we bear it in isolation, the sharing of an artist such as Shnier is gloriously generous-spirited, for it assures those who suffer that they’re not alone.
Paul Gilchrist
Split Ends by Claudia Shnier
at the Loading Dock, Qtopia, until 24 January
Theatre Red 