Walking into The Warren’s Studio 2 to the sounds of Vengaboys, Avril Lavigne and Gwen Stefani, it was clear I was in for an hour-long nostalgia hit. Split tells the story of Charlotte and Ellie, who meet on the first day of secondary school, and shows the ups and downs of their friendship from that moment through to their Year 11 prom. They cover everything together: sex, boyfriends, periods, hormones, polycystic ovary syndrome, and the death of a bald but well-loved cat, named Bach.
Fast-paced, fun and witty, Split was a hilarious flashback into adolescence, and a pitch perfect portrayal of young female friendship
While the dialogue at first felt awkward, it did in fact mimic what it was like to make friends as a timid Year 7 suddenly in a big school. As Charlotte and Ellie bonded, the comedy in their relatable but ridiculous conversations came thick and fast, dropping the hard truths that only lucky families have trampolines, amongst many others.
Tamar Broadbent and Emma Pritchard both delivered brilliant performances, from their excellent comedic timing, to their renditions of Millennium classics and a side-splittingly intense dance mat sequence. With all of this, they perfectly encapsulated what growing up as a young girl in the Noughties was like. From the rolled up skirts, short ties and melodramatic conversations about sex and gossip, and even to the rising inflection no teenager in the 2000s could seem to speak without, every detail was included and clearly recognised by the audience, who were laughing the whole way through. Although the emotional hit of Charlotte and Ellie’s story came a little late in the play and, as such, its close felt quite sudden, it still managed to pull off showing a softer side to the two prattling, slightly bitchy schoolgirls.
Fast-paced, fun and witty, Split was a hilarious flashback into adolescence, and a pitch perfect portrayal of young female friendship.
