Edinburgh Fringe Chats (#58): Ruxy Cantir, PICKLED REPUBLIC

8 Jul

Conducted by Emmie for Theatre and Tonic

As anticipation builds for the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2025, we’re catching up with a range of exciting creatives preparing to bring their work to the world’s largest arts festival this August. In this series, we delve into the stories behind the shows, the inspiration driving the artists, and what audiences can expect. Today, we’re joined by Ruxy Cantir to chat about their show, Pickled Republic

Can you begin by telling us about your show and what inspired it?

Pickled Republic is a surreal cabaret set in a pickling jar that’s decaying. Complete with pickled vegetables that are freaking out right before their bubbly and stinky demise. It’s completely ridiculous, riotous and it totally tickles that deep, philosophical bone.

There were a few things that inspired me to make this show, including a hugely inappropriate funeral story from my native Moldova I’d heard, involving a keener (funeral cryer) and a climb into a coffin. But I suppose the main source of inspiration was the act of pickling and preservation. We pickle almost everything in Moldova - tomatoes, carrots, gherkins. And while I remember the process of pickling in rural Moldova being quite joyous and colourful, in adulthood, it made me think about some deeper stuff it touched on around preserving, making life longer, death, purpose quest and what exactly is a life well lived?

So all of that combined in a jar, festered for 9 years, and here we are!

What made you want to bring this work to the Fringe this year?

I was really eager to share the show with more audiences after a tour of Scotland in 2023, thanks to Creative Scotland’s Touring Fund, which made it possible for us to play in both rural and urban locations. The show was received so well and loads of folk were like - this is a fringe show, you need to take it to the fringe! So I did. Shoutout to the Dunoon ladies who came to the show who were the most adamant about this being at the fringe :)

How would you describe your show in three words?

Riotous, ridiculous, bonkers.

What do you hope audiences take away from watching your performance?

I hope they walk out feeling a sense of elated joy. The show is so ridiculous and silly, even while dealing with some heavy themes like the search for purpose, that I hope the ridiculousness of it all makes them skip out of the theatre laughing.

What’s your top tip for surviving the Fringe?

I’ve never done a full Edinburgh Fringe run! So I think I’ll find the top survival tips as I go along. But! I am intending to find a sauna. I’ve also been advised to Pace Myself… So I’ll do that, I guess!

Where and when can people see your show?

Pickled Republic is on at 13:15 at Summerhall Arts in the Anatomy Lecture Theatre. Preview on 31 July, then every day 1-25 August (not 11 and 18)