We sat down with Ruxy Cantir to discuss their new show Pickled Republic, playing as part of Edinburgh Fringe Festival at Summerhall from the 31 July – 25 August. Get your tickets here.
Where to start? Please tell us about the show and explain the show title, Pickled Republic.
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.
Myself and my brother – who co-wrote with me on this show – have been silly together all our lives. We thought of the title way before the show was even in development, and it actually informed some of our later decisions. We thought it was hilarious to have a republic made of pickles, it just amused us to no end, and the title stuck with us.
Who are the various vegetable characters and do they get along with each other?
There are loads of vegetables who live in this pickling jar. I won’t give them all away, but I’ll mention some of my favourites.
The gherkin, the main pickle and face of the show – he’s an unnerving presence who likes a bit of mad dancing.
There’s a pickled tomato, as well, and she is desperate to be picked and eaten. There’s also a pickled onion. Now he is a smooth talker and a beat poet and has lots of love and emotion to offer, even though there’s a fork out to get him at all times.
They’re all aware of each other, I’d say, but don’t think they particularly get along with each other. Like in a block of flats, you’re aware of your neighbours, there might even be nice interactions, but for the most part, everyone is suffering their briny existence in solitude.
Pickled Republic addresses some deep existential questions – why did you choose to explore these questions in the way you do?
Life is totally absurd, so the best way to explore it is through humour and absurdity. I find that people are more keen to engage with difficult subjects like finding purpose and the dread of existence if it’s portrayed by a ridiculous being. A pickled onion beat poet is ridiculous. Somehow, it puts just the right distance between us and the creature we’re watching to be able to connect in a real way. And before you know it, we’re empathising with a pickled onion because our own struggle to be understood and accepted is the same and becomes much more visible.
Pickled Republic has toured Scotland and performed at festivals, how does it feel to be now bringing the show to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe?
I’m really quite excited. To play a show every day for a month? It’s quite a gift for a performer as it doesn’t happen very often.. The show becomes alive – you feel how it breathes and reacts and responds. Oftentimes, you do a sporadic performance – here and there – so getting into a rhythm and a groove is a luxury.
Also – I’ve never done a run at the Edinburgh fringe! So I’m both petrified and elated to get to do this with a show that is so close to my heart and to who I am, as a person and as an artist.
What do you hope that audiences will take away from seeing the show?
I hope people walk out with a sense of lightness. Yes, we’re all feeling the dread of existence and the weight of purpose-seeking, and it is what the show is about, but we’re all gathering in one place to laugh at a pickling jar full of raucous unhinged characters, and what a wonderful thing that is. So I hope folk laugh, feel unnerved and surprised, and walk out with a bit of the weight of the world just off their shoulders.
Also that they leave thinking pickles are awesome. Come talk to me about fermentation – the REAL pickling.
What is your favourite thing about Edinburgh during August or what are you most looking forward to?
I’m really looking forward to meeting so many wonderful artists and seeing shows every day! Artists I know, artists I admire – some of them are coming to the fringe this year and I am looking forward to meeting them, seeing their work, and being inspired.